Unexpected Expectation
by MonsterV
Summary: AU Fic. The Winchesters are up to much of the same, still hunters in a sense. This is a much later sequel to my "Teaching an Angel to Be Human" story. Dean and Castiel receive a big surprise thanks to an eclipse. But is this a good surprise, or a bad surprise. How is Dean going to handle the situation? Established Dean/Cas pairing, MPREG warning. Language/violence.
1. Chapter 1

An AU fic, but most of what happened in the show has actually happened in real life. Except in this version, Bobby is undead/immortal (think Davey Jones without the sea, instead he can leave his house/yard once every 10 years). He made a deal with an ANGEL to live as a central knowledge unit. Dean and Castiel have been together since season 5 (in my last story 'Teaching an Angel to be Human') and their 'togetherness' is out in the open. The threat of the world ending is gone, but the Winchesters and Cas are still hunters for their own little team. Cas is still a full-fledged angel, btw.

Warnings: Dean/Cas coupling, my very first attempt at Mpreg, and AU type stuff. Don't murder me over the differences.

Ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo

"I'm starved!" Sam groaned loudly, "Cas, wanna go with me to the diner?"

Castiel looked up from where he had been gathered in his thoughts. "No thank you, Sam. I'm all set. I just watched an educational segment on the female pelvic exam. I'm rather nauseated."

Sam chuckled to himself, heading out the door while the angel stood up and decided to walk out to the back porch to get some fresh air. Maybe he'd been stuck in the house too long. It'd been raining all week. The sound of it pattering on the porch roof was relaxing, but the weather made it unpleasant to go out in. Yes, normally rain or snow had no effect on Cas, but lately, especially today, he wasn't feeling like himself. He was cold, then hot and sweaty. His heart fluttered for no reason and he was developing headaches. The nausea was new, just kicking on hours ago. But it hit like a train.

When Dean came home from his 'day job' of setting well-behaved supernatural beings up with ordinary human lives, Cas had just left the bathroom. He hadn't vomited since back when he was human for a short time. Dean noted that his angel's face was pale, and he looked tired. Though Cas didn't have the need for food, his vessel still had a stomach full of bile to facilitate vomiting.

"You okay, Cas?" he asked, clearing the space between them to pull the angel toward him, sharing warmth between them.

Castiel nodded, he felt like he did when he entered the room of Pestilence, without the internal bleeding. His lower abdomen was tender to the touch, but it was nothing terribly painful.

"You sure? You look like Hell."

"Thank you, Dean. Now I feel better." Cas replied with noted sarcasm. _Damn he's so moody lately. I can't crack a joke without him getting offended. I thought being with a guy would spare me the hormonal problems. _

"Jesus, are you on your period?" Dean asked, regretting having said it almost immediately. Cas sighed in clear annoyance.

"No, Dean. That would be impossible. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to sleep." He said gruffly, turning to walk to Dean's bed.

Dean's eyes widened. _He's going to sleep? Why?_

"When did you start sleeping?" Dean asked, unable to contain his immense confusion.

"Four days ago. Anything else you want to take down?" Cas replied sharply. He sounded like he did back when he got hammered drunk and was being an ass to everyone, back when God abandoned him down here on Earth.

"Hey, are you okay? I'm sorry. I'm not trying…I'm just trying to fit the pieces together. You're sick, and now you're sleeping? I'm just a little worried, Cas."

Castiel sighed again, this time it was a soft sigh, one of forgiveness. He returned to where he was before, in front of Dean, embracing the taller man, placing a kiss on his cheek before resting his head against a strong shoulder, closing his eyes for a moment.

"I'm sorry, Dean. I don't know what got into me. It's probably some sort of vessel bug. I'll be okay. I just want to sleep now."

Dean walked with his angel, helping him into bed and laying beside him, snuggling the weak body before him.

Ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo

Weeks went in just like this, with Castiel very tired and vomiting before it all seemed to stop. Dean had been on the verge of making Cas see a doctor. That would have been odd to go to an actual hospital, but Bobby had connections with people that could provide medical assistance to demons. Why not angels?

But the last time that Cas threw up, he seemed to go back to his old self. He was relieved by it, being that Dean, Sam, and undead Bobby were up his ass so much about his health. Castiel loved that they were concerned, but they didn't act this way when a human was sick. Yes, it was very odd for him to be ill, but the constant pokes and prods for answers didn't help.

Ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo

"Do you smell that?" Castiel asked from Bobby's study. Dean wasn't home but Sam and Bobby both were present in the same room. They sniffed the air and noted that all they could smell was dusty old books. Castiel insisted that he smelled honey. Bobby and Sam both assured him that the closest source of honey was maybe two miles away.

"Yes, that's where it's coming from." Castiel agreed. He could smell the honey from that far away. The scent was sweet and natural, almost made him hungry just to smell it.

"You can't really smell two miles away." Sam scoffed, not quite stating and not quite asking.

"It must be this new soul that's inside me." Castiel said calmly, to which both Sam and Bobby locked eyes on the angel in concern.

"What are you talking about, Cas? What soul?" Sam asked. It was odd how nonchalant Castiel was when he said this. Normally, people would panic about having a 'new soul' in them. It didn't seem to phase their angel at all.

"I have a soul in my vessel. I know it isn't mine, because I don't have one. I'm wondering if a ghost got confused and tried to walk through me. Everyone knows that entities with no substantial body can pass through an angel within a vessel. It's like a sinkhole."

"You're saying that there's something human trapped in you?" Bobby asked, concerned and confused.

"I'm not sure. I know something is different. I can feel it." Cas said, very sure of himself, yet also rather confused.

After two hours of running hunter-invented tests to find out what foreign spirit got lost in Castiel's void, they were no closer to finding the answer than they'd been. It wasn't a demon. None of the demon artifacts caused the slightest irritation. It wasn't a ghost. It seemed like it was nothing. Cas was the only person that could sense anything amiss at all, and as far as Bobby and Sam could see, it wasn't something of a different world.

"Maybe you have a flu. Do parasites have souls?" Sam asked, knowing how foolish that question sounded before even asking it. Both of the other men in the room shook their heads to say 'no.'

"Sam, it feels like one of you. Not dead. It's…alive. Alive and somehow, somewhere in here." Cas started, jerking his thumb toward his torso.

"Maybe you're pregnant." Sam laughed, drawing a sudden snap in Bobby's eyes. The old man stood and started looking through his books, no longer interested in what Sam was joking about.

"That's not possible." Cas replied, not getting the joke. _It isn't possible. Angels don't reproduce, at least I don't remember knowing of it. And the human male form I'm in doesn't have the needed organs for harvesting any young. _

"Apparently it is." Bobby said, looking up from a book he was scanning.

Both the angel and Sam looked at Bobby like what he was saying had to be a practical joke.

"What?" they said in unison.

"Cas, I've been doing some research since when you started getting sick. Dean was worried. I couldn't put my finger on it until... Sam, get the hell outta here, ya idjit." Bobby continued, sending a curious Winchester out of his study before continuing his speech with a now scared angel.

Ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo

About 20 minutes later, Castiel emerged from Bobby's study, into the kitchen where Sam was waiting in earnest. Cas's bright blue eyes met with Sam's before looking away with a sigh.

"Well, what's going on?" Sam asked, trying to be delicate about the insane lore that might be coming true right before his eyes. Without trying to, he gave Castiel a quick looking over, not noticing anything different about his appearance, other than a more healthy look to his skin, which Sam brushed off as just Castiel's normal glow, and that Sam hadn't noticed it as much until after Cas had been sick.

"Well…Bobby thinks I might be… with child, Sam." Cas said, voice full of embarrassment.

"What? Really? How? Are you? I mean, how do you find out? How far along-" Sam was the only one excited at this moment. All of his questions bombarded the angel's already scattered thoughts.

"I don't know, Sam. I don't know. This isn't something that happens…not often. Bobby said there was only two other records that contained validity. Apparently, the eclipse last month had something to do with it."

"How?" Sam asked, thinking that this sounded too much like the X-Files.

"Apparently the other two Nephilim were conceived by intercourse during an eclipse. Last month…Dean and I… we mated during the eclipse, outside, in direct contact when the eclipse was total. Dean thought it would be…just a great idea." Cas said, terribly uncomfortable with discussing he and Dean's sexual escapades with Sam.

"Were the others…men?" Sam asked. This seemed so strange. They'd heard of shape shifting hybrids, and many other supernatural hybrids. He'd never heard of angels and humans, in male form, creating children, though.

"No, they were women. Angels fell to Earth in the Epistle of Jude and impregnated human women. There's only two cases that were actually followed in old lore."

"So…how does that work with you not having the…stuff you need?" Sam asked. He didn't know everything about women and pregnancy, but he did know that there was always an egg and uterus involved, unless it was due to asexual reproduction.

"I'm an angel, Sam. I think we can throw human logic to the wind, here. My internal organs adapt to my needs. I can have my heart punctured, be blown to bits, and I can survive. It's not far-fetched to believe that I can possibly develop new organs were none were previously."

"This is…out of this world, man." Sam smiled, scoffing to himself, trying to control anything offensive he thought might hurt Cas. He'd been around pregnant human women before, and sometimes they were a little sensitive. "So, you're pregnant?"

"I don't know for sure. I know I feel strange."

"Can you take a pregnancy test?" Sam asked, pointing to the door, silently offering to go to the store and pick one up.

"No, Sam. I'm not a woman. Bobby is gathering up some things. He thinks he has a way of checking to be sure. He assured me that it would be non-invasive and not painful."

Without thinking, Sam's hand extended forward, flattening a palm over his friend's stomach, earning him a very surprised look from the angel before him.

"Sam, please. This is strange enough without the touching."

Ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo

Sam went with his friend into Bobby's study, nearly 30 minutes after their little talk. He could see that Castiel was a mess, a confused mess. Sam and Bobby were both just as confused, but the two of them felt that they needed to maintain an air of calm. Cas had been asked to lay back on the old bed that Adam slept in years ago, before he became Michael's vessel. He'd pulled his shirt up to his ribs and twitched when Bobby placed a cold stethoscope against the exposed skin of his abdomen. He moved the end around a bit, pressing in at certain points, while Sam looked on like a concerned dog, eyes darting from Bobby to Cas.

"Balls, there it is." Bobby muttered, taking the ear pieces out and sitting the steth down on the floor. "You got two heartbeats."

Castiel sighed, a long, sad sigh. He sat up and pulled his shirt down, almost imagining that there was a tiny lump of something he could feel inside. No, it wasn't his imagination. There was nothing visible happening, but as soon as Bobby mentioned another heart beating, the angel mentally connected with whatever it was causing this heartbeat. It was something very small, and very much in need of his care. It felt just like any other human that he could sense, but tiny, almost ignorable before today. It had a heart, a spirit, and there was rapid cell division taking place. It was almost like watching the human solar systems form so long ago, and now it was within. He knew that Bobby was not wrong. Though this made absolutely no sense, it was true to say the least.

"Are you sure, Bobby?" Sam asked. "Is there anything else it could be?"

"Not unless he grew an extra heart by his liver." Bobby replied smartly, muttering 'idjit' under his breath as he walked out of the room.

"Cas?" Sam whispered, breaking the silence that hung over the room. His friend hadn't moved or looked up from the floor since he sat up.

"How am I going to tell Dean?" Castiel begged, wanting a way out. _This can't be happening. It's impossible. My vessel is male. Dean never wanted this. He always said things like that, since the time he left Lisa and Ben, he didn't want to put himself in that position again. He's going to run. I'm going to be alone, and this thing… _"He's gonna…leave me." Cas sobbed, hormonal, emotional, and overwhelmed.

Sam had never seen anything like this, but when Death returned his soul, he used it everyday. He could see Castiel's point, and the reason behind his sudden worry. Sam knew that Dean loved Cas, but he'd also heard before that Dean expressed he didn't want to be a father. This was one of the strangest conversations the younger Winchester brother had ever been privy to. Standing there at an awkward crossroad with a friend, his brother's boyfriend, and an angel, all the same guy. He'd never seen Cas drop so much as a lip quiver of worry or sadness. Now, the pillar of self-control smashed inside, and Castiel's usually stoic nature was frazzled, leading the man to sob like a 10 year old girl.

"No." Sam said, not sure of what else to say as he sat down and placed an arm around his friend's small, trembling frame.

"Yes…I know it." His voice cracked, causing him to squeak and bury his face into Sam's shirt. "He's going to bolt. I was so happy. Why did this have to happen? It doesn't make sense, and it just shouldn't be. I'm going to be all alone."

"Hey, I don't think so. He loves you. More than anyone else. He's not going to leave you. You just have to take this one step at a time. Tell him."

"What if you're wrong? What if-"

"Look, if I'm wrong, and he leaves you, you can count on me. Right?"

"Thank you." Cas sobbed again.

"Yo!" Dean yelled excitedly, bursting into the room. His eyes widened in surprise, seeing Cas leaning into Sam for support. Sam motioned to his brother, pointing out that he and Castiel needed to talk.

"Cas?" Dean whispered, loud enough for the angel to hear him. Cas looked up at Dean with bleary eyes.

"Whoa? Somebody die?" Dean asked, looking at Sam for some sort of answer.

The angel shook his head to say no, sucking in his lips and taking a deep breath, standing and approaching the love of his life.

"What do you have going on? You've been acting freakin weird, man."

"Dean, you know… I love you-"

"No, no no. Don't get all Jerry Springer on me. Is it somebody else? You sneaking around on me?" Dean asked in defense.

"Stop. No, I'm not seeing anyone else. You know I'm not."

"Well? Sammy?" Dean stood expectant. Sam slowly backed away, still in the room but noting that he wasn't going to take part.

"I don't know how to say this. The house is going to be a bit more 'crowded', if you catch my meaning." Cas started, coaching himself mentally to take deep breaths.

"Oh, dammit! Did Sammy bring home another stupid dog?"

"No."

"Cat?"

"No."

"Pig, ferret, demon-"

"Dean, no. I meant for us…because…I'm pregnant." Castiel stated as quickly as he could string the words together. Saying it out loud sounded even stranger than thinking about it.

"Ha! Nice one, Cas. You're getting better at this joking thing."

Cas shuffled uncomfortably, looking from Dean to somewhere off in the distance. This was not going to be easy to prove. "I'm serious. Your spawn is growing in me, quite rapidly as it were."

Of course, Dean didn't believe this a bit. It wasn't possible, and he was sure that Bobby and Sam were playing along with an elaborate prank. When nobody laughed, Dean jerked his head to the side, raising an eyebrow as usual when he was confused. "Cas, it was funny for a second. Knock it off."

"I wish it were that simple. I'm not joking. I don't know how to explain. I don't understand it myself. But something _alive_ is taking up space somewhere around my vessel's intestines."

"Maybe you just have to take a dump." Dean stammered.

"I think I would know the difference." Cas said, looking sickened. "As much as you didn't want to have children, this is happening. I'm no happier about it than you are. I know how freakish I am." Cas muttered, looking at the floor, starting to lose his composure. His eyes were starting to well up again, and he was trying anything to remain in control.

Bobby and Sam stood in the same room, arms crossed and uncomfortable. Neither of them wanted to get in on it. Both actually would have rather melted into the walls. _Balls,_ Bobby thought, _why wasn't melting into the walls something the undead could do? It happened in the movies._

"Freakish? Ya think? Cas, you're a dude! A duuude."

"I'm sorry!" Cas snapped, trying to pretend that his voice didn't squeak.

Before Dean could say another stupid thing, a flutter of wings told him that his Cas was gone, and now all that stood before him was an irritated Bobby, and sullen Sam.

Ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo

"Meg?" came a gruff voice in the dark.

"What are you doing out here, by yourself?" She emerged from around a tree with a smile crossing her face. It was strange. Cas used to hate her, used to think to himself how much she smelled of sulfur. Now, her smell and her tactless demeanor didn't bother him anymore. He owed Meg an awful lot for how she'd assisted the Winchesters and himself in the past.

"I could ask you the same question." Castiel replied as Meg sat down beside him on his usual bench in the park. This was the first time he'd gone to this particular place at night. It was even more peaceful than during the daytime.

"Hmmm, up to no good, I suppose." Meg replied playfully. "I missed jah, of course."

This brought a smirk to the angel's lips. As bad as he was feeling at that moment, Meg did have a very genuine way of speaking.

"We're not alone." She whispered, eyeing the surrounding area. Cas could see her eyes working apart the darkness, sniffing. "I smell…human. Did you bring your Ass with you?"

"No, Dean's not here."

"Eww, then you obviously didn't wash off after your last…encounter. I smell him all over you." Meg said, wrinkling her nose even though she wasn't disgusted.

"It isn't that, either." Cas sighed, and noticed her eyebrow raise. She looked at him, up and down, trying to scan out what might be different, same way that she scanned the darkness of the park only moments ago.

"Well, its coming from you, its human, and its Winchester…so…" She was piecing it together, now. Meg was not a stupid demon. Manipulative, maybe. But she wasn't stupid.

"Well, everybody else knows. I might as well tell you that…I'm…expecting a baby."

Meg's eyes grew to twice their normal size. She made an awkward snorting noise, and then tried to blink away her confusion and surprise. She definitely did not like when she was at a loss for answers. No, of course she'd never heard of male angels having babies, and had no idea what Cas was talking about to save her life, but she would never let on.

"What's next, Clarence? Weddin' Bells?" She joked, but stopped when she noticed that he wasn't happy about this. _That's weird. Isn't reproducing usually good news for humans…or angels living human lives._

"Not all is well in paradise, Meg." The angel whispered, lowering his gaze to the grass. He felt one of Meg's arms slip around his waist while the other stroked fingers through dark, soft hair when he leaned into her comfort. This was a strange scene indeed, one that Meg reserved only for Cas. They'd become friends over the years. Meg was not soft-hearted. Frequently, the two of them shared a love/hate relationship, but generally what the two of them had was what any modern human would call an 'epic bromance' save for Meg being female. Generally, she couldn't care less of humans or their stupid feelings, but she felt that Castiel shared an understanding, more of a kinship with her.

"Tell me what happened." She whispered, trying to mask the tone in her voice that said all too clearly that she was already furious with Dean.

Castiel explained to Meg to the best of his ability, surrounding the mysterious conception of his and Dean's child. He expressed his concerns to her, regarding whether or not he or the child would survive, how long gestation would last, what labor would be like, everything. He told her about Dean's reaction, to which she promptly broke the arm rest off the park bench. They talked about it until the sun was peaking over the horizon. She convinced the distraught angel to return to her apartment with her, and told him that he could stay with her as long as he needed.

For a demon, Meg was an incredible host. Her apartment was clean, well-furnished, and it smelled like apple cinnamon. She had an unusual amount of candles burning to mask why she smelled of sulfur. She was even quite successful in the Scentsy candle business in her spare time. Imagine that, demons selling sweetly scented wax.

Her spare bedroom was set up as perfectly as a catalog, to which she explained that even as a demon, she was still a girl. She liked order and tidiness. This little place in which she lived gave her the freedom to be creative, something that centuries in Hell never allowed. Cas caught himself feeling very amused at her decorative skills, aside from the snake tank that was just outside of the living room. Of course she would have kept a snake as a pet. She was a demon, afterall, and a demon that was very fond of symbolism to boot.

"Get some rest, babe. I gotta go to work." Meg muttered, pulling on a striped shirt and grabbing her DMV work badge off the door handle to her room. Yes, Dean had gotten her a cover job at Castiel's request. She was one of the reformed, 'on good behavior' supernatural beings.

"Meg?"

"Yeah?"

"You don't find any of this weird?" Castiel asked her, from the spot on the feather-down bed he was resting on.

"I'm a demon. Weird is my everyday."


	2. Chapter 2

Ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo

"Is Cas here? He didn't come home last night?" Dean asked when Meg opened the door to her apartment. She stood, black eyed, leaning on the frame with one arm, while the other arm held the door in place.

"You've got a lotta nerve coming here, Short Bus." She replied slowly. She never pretended to like Dean. The two never got along, even back when she'd met Sam as a fresh-faced former college student. "Hello Sam." She added, noting the taller Winchester standing behind his brother.

"Hi Meg." Sam waved awkwardly, deciding to take over for Dean, "Is he here? He kind of left in a hurry yesterday."

"Is there any question of why that is?" Meg asked, still maintaining her deep, calm voice, but eyeing Dean like a pissed off cat.

"Just go get him, Meg," Dean insisted impatiently, "I just want to talk."

"Oh you want to talk now? Well, I suppose I better hop to it before you change your mind…again." Meg muttered, closing the door behind her. The Winchesters could hear her footsteps and her muffled voice saying something far off in the apartment. She'd just returned from work and was in no mood to deal with any more humans and their petty problems.

Moments later, a tired-looking Cas opened the door clad in his underwear and the manliest shirt that Meg had. She let him borrow one she usually slept in. It was black and had some Satanic symbols across the front. She said the shirt was from some musical group. Cas couldn't remember the name she said. It sounded strange.

"Nothing happened. My pants are in the dryer." Cas noted gruffly when Dean looked at the state of his clothing.

Dean didn't say anything. Instead he stepped forward and took his angel in for a romantic kiss, to which Sam promptly averted his eyes to the wood framing on the upper side of the wall of the hallway.

"I'm sorry." Dean said quietly. "I didn't mean-"

"It's okay." Cas started, earning a groan from Meg in the living room. "I understand. It was a shock for me too. It still is."

"I was worried about you." Dean said, "When you didn't come home, I thought maybe something happened."

"I'm an angel, Dean. What's the worst that could happen?"

"Miscarrying?" Dean said quietly. "You were under a lot of stress."

"Hm, I didn't think about that. I assure you, I'm fine, though. The spawn isn't going anywhere for a while." Cas continued, pulling his shirt down a little further when he caught Sam eyeing his abdomen, scanning for any changes. _Give it a rest, Sam. I'm not going to swell out overnight._

"Can you come back home? It feels empty without you in bed with me. And Bobby is being really hard to deal with. Luckily he can only access the parts of the house he used before becoming undead. I still have upstairs to hide in."

"What about this? What's going to happen between us, because of the…baby?" Castiel asked, still unsure of where Dean stood on the matter.

"I don't know what to do. We can take it one step at a time." Dean offered.

"I'm going to need more of a commitment than that. I need to know whether you're ready to be with me regardless of my biological state. I didn't plan this and neither did you, I see that. Neither of us knew it was possible. It's strange, and I know with the kind of life we lived it isn't ideal. But I…can't have you turning your back on me every other day. You're either with me, or I'm doing this alone. There is no other choice and you can't go back on it once you decide."

"It makes me seem like an ass that you'd even have to wonder. I'm with you, no matter what happens. I'm worried, and I'm scared for both of you. I'll admit it. I don't know what's going to go down, but neither did you, way back when and you've been there for me through the years. You always followed without any regard for your safety, always came to my rescue, bled for me. You gave me that, and I'm here to spend the rest of my life making it up to you. So if you're looking for an answer, I'm here. I'm not going anywhere, and I'm definitely not going to bail on you. You're the best friend I've ever had and the only person in this entire world that could ever love me for me."

Cas smiled, hugging Dean tight and standing on the ends of his toes to do so.

Ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo

Four more weeks had gone by, and Cas was past the intense tiredness and morning sickness. There were still occasional mood swings, but things were getting back to normal. He'd felt good enough to go back to working with Dean during the day, which was no big deal, as he looked no different at all. His abdomen was still flat, and even as weeks went by, it would still be easy to hide with the loose clothes the angel wore.

Bobby managed to get in touch with a Scanner. She was a descendant of a doctor named Cayce that used to diagnose illnesses in his sleep, back in the early 1900s. He'd passed the ability to see the human body in a different way down his lineage, until it reached Carrie, a 23 year old white-haired young girl with a scar on her lip that could see the internal organs via touching a patient. Bobby corresponded with her over the phone and offered to pay for her plane tickets if she would scan for him repeatedly. She'd been doing things like this for other special people, so the girl knew how to keep a secret. Bobby would not have approached her if he didn't hear of her in a very high regard.

"Cas, could ya get in here for a second?" Bobby called, and when the angel and Dean appeared in the room, Bobby worked on introduction of the mysterious girl that stood in front of his desk.

"This is Carrie. She's Dr. E Cayce's blood, and she's a scanner."

"Like from the movie Scanners?" Dean asked, not sure why Bobby would bring one of those scanners into the house.

"No. Not from the movie Scanners, are you some kinda moron? She's a walking ultrasound machine."

"Nice to meet you." Carrie said, offering a pale hand, engaging in handshakes with the two other men in front of her. Everything about this kid was pale. _Was she one of those albinos? _Even her eyes were a pale blue, almost like the blue that a blind person's eyes became after losing sight or experiencing optical injury. The only thing that even made her eyes visible from the rest of her skin was the fact that she was wearing eyeliner and mascara. It made her eyes stick out like a sore thumb.

"You're an angel." She said to Cas in amazement. "I've never met one of your kind yet."

Cas nodded toward her, unsure of how to respond, before Bobby continued.

"Since we have about as much info on your condition as a single monkey in a barrel, I brought her here so that we could maybe get a glimpse of what's going on in your innards, boy."

"What am I scanning for?" Carrie asked, "Kidney stones, heart murmurs?"

"Or a baby." Bobby added, gaining a look of confusion from the albino girl, followed by quick dismissal.

"Oh, I didn't know angels could…I learn something new everyday."

Bobby mentioned that he was starting to keep a record of what was occurring with their angel friend, incase this happened again to future generations. Bobby always wanted to write a manual on something, so why not write it on something that he was privy to first hand, something that no other person knew very much about. He'd already started compiling information and recording it into a volume.

Carrie motioned for Cas to come over to where she was. She lowered herself into a chair in front of Bobby's desk, with her right hand holding a pencil, resting over a thick sheet of paper on the wooden surface. Her left hand slipped up under Castiel's shirt and a cold, clammy palm rested flat against his lower abdomen. The girl took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and her right hand started to move, slowly at first, and then rapidly. She was sketching, and then filling in the sketch with details, her right hand taking time to jump from the sketch over to a separate paper where she started to hand-write details, figures, and little doodles.

Fifteen minutes passed before she stopped and opened her eyes to read what she'd written.

"Twenty five quarts of blood pumped per day. Developed head, scalp, fingers and toes. Possesses fingerprints. Nearly four inches in length, over one ounce in weight. Bones are just starting to harden. No gender established. No uterine cavity present. Fertilized pseudo-egg rests on top of the liver where it attached. Fetus exhibits normal development. Parent exhibits very little internal distress."

She stopped reading and looked up.

"Liver?" Dean asked, blinking.

"Well, I don't have a uterus." Cas replied, as if to excuse the strange position.

"There is some kind of membrane surrounding the baby. It's like a trash bag. A Hefty brand trash bag. Very…sturdy." Carrie continued. "Since you angels don't have uteruses, I guess the membrane has to remain strong enough not to tear or rupture on its own. Aside from no uterus being there, it looks pretty normal to me."

"Is the liver thing… a big deal?" Dean asked, worried.

"Well…" Carrie started, tapering her words carefully. "Before I dropped out of medical school, I read about a woman that carried a full-term baby in or around her liver. The story was called "Liver Baby" and the woman and the child lived. This was in the 1990s. Generally, with humans, when an egg attaches to something that isn't the inner wall of a uterus, it aborts spontaneously, or causes the 'mother' some health issues, including extreme pain. But you're an angel. Your organs should be more than fine."

"But is there a risk?"

"Si senor. There's always a risk. This is beyond my level of knowledge. From where I can see, everything looks as it should, but I should keep checking once every few weeks, both to help Mr. Singer with his research, and to make sure no gestational problems arise. How far along did you say you were?" Carrie asked the angel.

"I didn't." He replied, still rather embarrassed at discussing something that made him appear so very freakish. Yes, everyone was trying to be nice and act like this was normal, but it wasn't. He still had very few answers in regard to how this gestation was going to work.

"About two months or so. Maybe a week more than that. That eclipse was when…it started." Dean answered instead.

"Two months…eight or nine weeks…but the fetal development shows…closer to…" Carrie had a device in her hand. It looked like a cell phone, but she was doing something besides making a phone call on it. It looked like she was typing something and filling in some sort of chart space. "Closer to…six…teen…weeks."

"What does that mean?" Cas finally asked, passing from awkward humiliation to concern and worry.

"Clearly…faster development. Maybe gestation between a human and an angel is different than the typical 9 months a human experiences."

Ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo

"Why are you all sweaty?" Sam asked as Castiel sat down on the back porch steps beside him, with a popsicle in his hand.

"It's hot." Cas replied, as if Sam was a stupid idiot that didn't know anything about temperature.

Four more weeks had gone by, and spring faded quickly into the very beginning of summer. It was May right now, and if the roof of the porch wasn't there, the sun would have been beaming down on the two men. Temperature started having a new meaning to the angel, as he now experienced what it felt like to be hot and in skin that felt too small. It was almost like being human again. He was becoming hungry a lot more often in the past month, and today it was too hot to wear the coat he loved so much. Instead, he had on one of Dean's old gray Lynyrd Skynyrd shirt that did a good job of not clinging to the slight swell in his abdomen unless he stood up.

"How are you…uh…feeling?" Sam asked as Castiel munched on his popsicle, namely a Rocket Bar he found in the freezer.

"Sweaty, fat." Cas replied matter-of-factly through a mouthful of sweet, melting liquid.

Sam couldn't help but stare uncomfortably as Cas slid the frozen tubular item in and out of his mouth. He caught Sam looking and raised an eyebrow.

"What?" He asked, when Sam finally turned away after noticing that his watching was being observed.

"Um…maybe it's better that you chose a male vessel instead of a female one."

"Why?"

"Because…you're really, going to town on that thing. And let's face it, you being a guy is the only thing that is keeping me from having an erection." Sam explained, trying not to smile.

"Okay," Cas sighed, "Looks like I'm done with this." He tossed the half eaten popsicle into the trashcan that was sitting by the porch steps, standing up and muttering 'pervert' to himself as he walked back into the house for yet another shower.

Ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo

"Have you thought about any names?" Meg asked when she was visiting one Saturday. It was damn hot that particular day, and though the air conditioning was on, Meg arrived in a bathing suit top and a pair of very small shorts, noting that she'd been swimming only a short time before arriving.

Cas stood in front of the vent, trying to air out, running a hand through is sweaty hair.

"Nothing definitive." He replied.

"If you're that hot, walk around in your underwear." Meg suggested, winking.

"Sure, because that will do volumes for covering up my fatness." Cas said, pointing toward the barely noticeable lump in his belly. Anyone that happened to see it would have only thought that Cas maybe had a case of indigestion. It wasn't very big at all, especially for being three months now, which was his gestational equal to roughly 21 weeks.

"Jeez, that's mean. When I was pregnant, I got huge. I mean, I looked like a tick!" Meg exclaimed, laughing.

"A tick is small."

"Okay, smart ass. Picture a 6 foot tall, 300 pound tick!"

"Well that's- Wait, Meg, you had children?" Castiel asked in surprise.

"Of course I did. Do you have any idea how old I am? Don't answer that. I'm old. And back in Hell, in my true form, I carried a litter of six. Like I said, I was enormous."

"Six? You have six babies? Where are they?"

"This was a long time ago. They're all grown up, now. Doing their own thing. You know how it is, once they reach 200 years of age, they think they know everything and don't need ya anymore." Meg continued, staring into space as if she were remembering fondly.

"Did they have a father?" Castiel asked, sitting beside her in interest.

"Of course they did. What am I, the Virgin Mary?" She laughed, "Demons have genitals. We reproduce…like flies, babe. His name was Sato. He was a little, bearded thing."

"Where is he now?"

"Dead." She replied, as if she was simply saying that he went to the store.

"I'm sorry, Meg." Cas said, offering comfort.

"Eh." She replied. "It's been a long time. I'm over it. We had some good years together, but we're demons. We move on."

"Uh." Cas groaned, placing a hand over his bump. "What was that?"

"What do you mean?" Meg asked, not asking permission, but placing her hand beside his and feeling the movement just as the angel had moments ago.

"That would be called kicks." Meg answered, smiling. "Aww, you precious little abomination! You're growing up so fast." She squeaked excitedly, talking to the baby, "You're gonna be a little ass-kickin' soul stealer, aren't you? Gonna give your dad Hell? Okay, well, try to go easy on the cuter dad." Meg whispered, looking up at Cas and smiling.

"Meg…you're just…so odd." He said, trying hard to keep from breaking into a grin.

Sam stepped into the room from having come in the front door. He'd been out earlier that day, out on whatever boring assignment Dean or Bobby had him on.

"Meg, put some clothes on." He said, bracing a hand on the wall partition to kick off his shoes.

"You don't want me to do that, Sam." Meg replied, smiling broadly, stretching out to show off her thin frame.

The younger man shook his head with a smirk and walked into the kitchen. Meg got up to go torment him as she tended to do on her visits. Though she had mellowed out greatly since her throat cutting days, she still had a mischief quota to satisfy. Sam was her favorite person to mess with. She was too nice to Cas, and Dean got angry too easily.

Ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo

As the next couple weeks went by, and both Sam and Cas found themselves enjoying porch time when the sun wasn't unbearable. Every few days, the angel would bring something outside to munch on. That first time they sat together, it was a popsicle. The next few days it was a sausage, which he only ate half of before developing heartburn. The third time, it was a giant corndog, which caused the same problem. The next, it was a lollipop, and then finally, he got himself hooked on cucumbers. Each sitting down session, Sam would stare on a little more awkwardly, with that same look he got on his face when he was in both a state of discomfort, was slightly aroused, and was overwhelmed by the urge to laugh away his confusion.

"Cas?"

"Yes, Sam?"

"Cucumbers?"

"Mhmm. They're cold…hence the term 'cool as a cucumber' and they're one of the few things that don't cause me incredible heartburn. Not to mention that they're both food and water at the same time."

"Why not pickles? Those have some flavor." Sam asked, sarcastic.

"They taste too salty."

Sam laughed.

Castiel looked at his friend in confusion.

"Have you noticed that all of your cravings seem to center around things…phallic in shape?" Sam asked.

It was true, and though Cas didn't realize it, every time he had a craving, he would say incredibly suggestive things. For example, back with the corndogs, he would insist on dunking them in ranch dressing. When Sam asked why, he replied that they were the only topping that didn't have a high acid level, and he 'found the color and texture pleasing and familiar'.

"I never noticed. Perhaps the reason for that may be…thanks to another phallic object, I'm gaining all this weight and developing such odd cravings. I should be tired of phallic objects, but alas, I'm not, for I am a homosexual…"

Ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo

It was now the middle of the fourth month of gestation and Carrie had come into town and scanned again. Bobby was keeping track of symptoms and development in his manual. After their scan, Castiel inadvertently blabbed that he figured out the baby's gender. Normally, humans didn't figure that out until roughly the fifth month, give or take. But the angel had known for some time, due to his ability to connect with the tiny human hybrid floating about his insides. He couldn't see the baby, but he had prophetic dreams about her being very feminine. The two of them were alone, laying in bed together and talking about setting up the small spare room. Dean had been tired from his long day out, tying up a loose end. Cas stayed at home lately, not wanting to go out in public due to the fact that he now had what looked like a beer belly. Instead, he stayed downstairs during the day and answered Bobby's phones with him, learning how to be rather assy to people that called. He'd mistakenly used the word 'she' instead of 'it' during the conversation that followed between the two of them.

"She?" Dean asked, his eyes widening in surprise.

"It." Castiel corrected himself.

"You said she." He prodded.

"Yes…I did. I'm sorry." Cas said, very serious. He wanted it to be a surprise at the right time. _Me and my trenchant mouth. Now I spoiled the surprise._

"You know for sure?"

"Yes, Dean…we're…having a female." Cas replied, making hesitant eye contact with Dean. He was waiting for some sort of reaction from him, good or bad.

"A girl?" Dean asked again, staring straight ahead.

"Did you want a male? Because if you did, the fact that she's a girl is your fault. It was your sperm that-"

"Can it, Cas. I'm happy." Dean replied, sounding very Rhett Butler at the moment, asserting that having a girl was just as wonderful as having a boy, and that it would be a relief because the house was a real sausage fest.

"You're happy about this?" He asked, hoping this wasn't some sort of sick joke.

"Damn right I am."

"Well, now that you know, it will be more pleasant to say 'she' or 'her' instead of calling the baby 'it' or 'this thing'. I almost can't believe this is happening, Dean. Still. It's been months, and…it doesn't seem real. Why me? Why us? This…tiny person is moving around and growing and feeding off of me…like some sort of parasite. An adorable, precious parasite. I'm happy, with you. I'm excited that we're going to be a family, but the mystery around it worries me. I'm rather concerned about how it will happen. I don't know how long it will take until she comes, or whether or not my organs are going to facilitate a birth canal. I may…die."

"You're not going to die." Dean replied, pulling his angel into an snuggle as he usually did when Cas was feeling doubtful or afraid. "You've dealt with everything else. How bad can this be?"

"I've heard it's excruciating." Castiel replied, blinking once to assert the seriousness of his statement. "In that case, I'm glad that I was…receiving…on the night in question. I have a chance of surviving this agony. What would have happened to you? A human body with no angel inhabiting it, it may have…"

Dean tilted Castiel's head upward and kissed him to keep him from worrying about it, though the thought did occur to him before. He dodged a bullet that day.

Ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo


	3. Chapter 3

"We should come up with some name options." Cas suggested one morning before Dean left for his day.

"What were you thinking of going with?" Dean asked, pulling on his shoes from a standing position, jumping up and down.

"That's why I'm asking you, I'm at a loss. How do people normally name their children?"

Dean paused for a second, not knowing how to answer that question. There were some pretty stupid names out there, and even stupider reasons.

"It's a toss-up, Cas. There aren't any specific rules to naming your kid. I'm named after my grandma for God sake. Since it's a girl though, we can't call her Roy."

"How about calling her after Mom, Dean?" Sam asked, having clearly overheard the conversation when he came to meet up with his brother on their way to 'work'.

"There's one idea." Cas agreed.

"How about Candy?" Dean suggested.

"No, Dean. Candy is a stripper name. I don't want our child to be a stripper…lest I kill scores of men." Cas replied.

"Naming a child after things you like isn't always the best bet. What's next, calling the kid Impala?" Sam joked.

"Or pie." Dean corrected.

"Pie Winchester. There's a name she won't resent you for." Cas said.

"We could call her Lisa." Dean winked.

This was obviously not well-received. Castiel looked at the love of his life with burning eyes.

"Dean Winchester, I should send you straight back to Hell and I'll be damned if I bail you out again."

The phone in Bobby's kitchen that Cas was responsible for answering started to ring and he padded off to answer it before Bobby got mad about having missed the call.

"FBI. Mercury speaking." There was a pause. "Yes he is. Uh huh. Well, if he wasn't, then how the Hell do you think he got an FBI badge and my direct number? Is that so? Well I'm glad they don't pay you to think, you dumb son of a bitch. We're *only* the FBI, sometimes we have to double check. What? Okay, calm down. Here's what you should do. Go to your office, take your car keys, and go home because you have no idea what you're doing." He hung up, looking satisfied as he went to the counter to smell the coffee pot. Dean didn't let him drink coffee anymore, now that he was drinking for two. So with the delightful smell in his nostrils, he opened the fridge, took out a Perrier and said 'bottoms up' to his lower belly before taking a drink of the refreshing bubbly liquid.

"I think he's mad at you." Sam whispered as they headed out the door.

"Nah, he'll be fine. It's the hormones."

"No it isn't. That was actually pretty assy, man." Sam insisted as they got to the front porch.

"Sam, I didn't know, I'm so sorry."

"For what?"

"I had no idea that you had a sense-of-humor-ectomy."

Ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo

"Sammy. Get over here and help me with this." Dean yelled from the back yard. It was that time of year again, which never made any sense to anyone. The time of the hottest part of the summer, where people think it's the best time to do some cleaning out of their homes, yards, garages, etc. Dean and Sam were in the back, and while Sam was dragging some yard garbage to the curb, Dean was trying to shove some items back into the shed.

The younger brother came to help while Cas stepped onto the porch, having taken a break from rewiring a light to heat up a generic cup-o-noodles.

"What's that buzzing noise?" Sam asked. There was a sound coming from one of the nearby trees that sounded almost like a weed-wacker running in the distance.

"Oh, heyyy. A wasp nest." Dean pointed to the watermelon-sized brownish object hanging up in the tree not three feet away. That was the source of the buzzing sound and wasps surrounding their hive were clearly visible now.

Dean, with a grin on his face took his lighter out of his pocket and motioned to Sam.

"Dean, no. Come on. This didn't work the last time you tried it." Sam moaned, shifting on his feet like a tired child. Dean had tried setting fire to a wasp nest when they were kids, and he managed to knock it down. It broke open and wasps chased them into the lake.

"Sammy. Please. I'm not an idiot. I got it this time."

"What is it you've 'got'?" Castiel asked, now standing by Sam to observe what it was his human was about to do. Sam gave the angel an uncomfortable, worried look before looking straight ahead.

Dean inched closer to the base of the tree, hoisting himself onto a low branch before bringing his lighter almost to the base of the hive before, again, it fell from the tree and smashed open on the ground. The sound of buzzing grew instantly more aggressive and a black cloud flooded into the air.

"Dammit." Dean groaned.

"Wasps!" Cas squeaked, throwing the cup of hot ramen he had in his hand into the cloud and taking off with the other two men as they scrambled to the open gun shed, which was closer than trying to make it into the house. The three of them made it into the confined area before pulling the door closed, plunging them into darkness and dust.

"Good going." Sam whispered. He was only quiet because if he shouted like he wanted to, dust would have been disturbed and everyone would be coughing more than they did after just closing the door.

"What are the odds of that happening again?" Dean asked aloud, laughing to himself.

"This is just terrific." Cas added, eyes easily adapted to the darkness, but the dust wasn't anything to be excited about. The angel was not a fan of dirt or dust.

"Cas, why did you run? You're an angel. Wasps can't hurt you." Sam said, confused.

"Let me explain something to you. Bees, I can handle. But nobody alive or undead likes wasps. A bee can only sting once. A wasp can sting repeatedly just because. They truly are the muggers of this world." Cas explained. It was true. Wasp stings hurt everyone. He'd been stung by a wasp before. That was the first thing he killed on Earth.

"Well, you're not going to swell up like we are. How about going in the house to get Bobby?" Sam requested, pressing himself into the wall so that he didn't have to be the other side of a Winchester sandwich with angel in the middle.

"I don't want to get stung, Sam. I would be fine, but what if it hurt the baby? We could just wait here for him to come and help."

"No, Cas. That's gonna be a long time to wait. He probably won't notice we're gone for a couple hours." Dean assured, taking this moment in the dark to wrap an arm around his angel's ribs.

"I don't see why I have to be the one to- I can't even run quickly." Castiel noted. It was true. This was the sixth month in gestation. Even though his abdomen was only slightly more swollen than the month previous, it slowed his endurance. The way he looked now only gave the appearance of having a basketball, cutting it in half, and placing one of the semi-circle halves into his shirt. Though six months had gone by, he was still self-conscious about his hardly noted shape, and wore something loose to cover the bump whenever possible.

"Yeah, Sammy, that's true. He'll get eaten alive out there. You're big. If you wave your arms around and roar at them, maybe-"

"No. I'm not going out there."

"Sam."

"NO!"

_10 minutes later…_

"Sam, now that we have this time together, I spoke to Meg the other day. She wanted me to ask you something." Castiel started, the darkness masking mischief in his eyes.

"About what?" Dean asked.

"You didn't tell Dean?" Cas added subtly.

"Must have slipped my mind." Sam muttered, with his face reddening slightly, trying to steer the conversation away from anything to do with Meg.

"You should really explain to your brother-"

"Okay! I'll go get Bobby. Judas." Sam snapped, before opening the shed door and disappearing into the yard. The two men in the shed could hear Sam slapping at himself and running in spurts up toward the house.

"What did Meg tell you?" Dean asked, in that tone of voice that said he wasn't sure if he wanted to know.

His angel started to speak, but before he could get any descriptive information out, Bobby had come and opened the door. The wasps were flying overhead, but they'd gone from the direct path into the house. Bobby looked annoyed, muttering about how pathetic it was for three grown men to be trapped in a shed because of stupid wasps.

"You're just in time." The old man added, "Carrie is here."

Castiel huffed, jerking one of his arms in noted irritation. It wasn't that he didn't like Carrie, because she was very nice. He wasn't a fan of the touching, especially now that his belly had gotten bigger. The skin was tight and itchy, and he hated the roundness and discoloration of the entire situation. _Why couldn't angels just lay eggs? No, instead, I'm chosen to be a genetic anomaly, a pregnant angel in a man's form._

"But…I look like home-made sin." Cas started to say.

Sam and Bobby both looked at Dean as if to say, 'this is the part where you say something nice.'

"Come on. No you don't. You've barely gained any weight at all. You look fine, man." Dean started to say.

"I've put on 13 pounds, Dean." Cas replied, doubtful.

"Hi Castiel!" Carrie said, smiling, hugging the angel as she entered the room, dropping her backpack on the floor.

"Wow," She started, "It's already been a month? You look exactly the same as you did a month ago." She wasn't lying, but she was also saying this to be kind to the angel. As a scanner, she could sense imbalances of hormones and intense emotions.

Ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo

"Fully developed fat layers. Maturing lungs. She has hair, and weighs about 4 pounds at the moment. She is 17 inches long, and laying on her back at the moment, sucking her thumb." Carrie said, smiling during her scan.

Dean laughed at this. He was a thumb sucker as a kid and his mother used to tell him that he was going to wake up without a thumb if he didn't stop. It scared the hell out of him, and he would wake up in the middle of the night and make sure his thumb was still there. Out of spite, he used to suck on baby Sam's thumb, because he didn't care if his brother had one less thumb at the time. Mary and John found this incredibly weird, and John told him that baby Sam picked his butt with that same thumb. Dean never did this again.

"Is that normal?" Bobby asked, taking notes.

"Well yes, for a baby that's around 32 to 34 weeks in gestation. This little one is just shy of full-term size and development."

"Is there some reason that Cas isn't gaining anymore weight?" Dean asked, placing a hand gently on his man's bump, earning a sigh and roll of the eyes from the angel.

"Just the position that she's laying in. She's on his liver, remember, so she's pressed more into the ribcage instead of forward like a uterus would. His organs are pretty much thinning to make room. It's rather amazing, actually." Carrie replied, noting her scan confidently.

"They're thinning?" Sam asked, as if this shouldn't be something said casually.

"Yes, thinning." Carrie replied.

"At least something on me is thinning. I'm never going to get my figure back after this." Cas sighed, not really angry or disappointed. Seeing the scans of the baby, the sketches that Carrie drew of what she was seeing each time, actually cheered him up exponentially. He liked seeing that this discomfort was not for nothing. Soon, he and Dean were going to be parents, which filled the angel with a sense of pride…and fear.

"Is it bad?" Bobby asked, this time concerned. Though he was a gruff old chap, he'd grown attached to the angel, and had come to care for him just as he had for the Winchesters. He usually referred to Cas as a Winchester as well. In basics, he was one. He'd known Dean and Sam since they were young, when John was still alive, and he couldn't help but feel gratitude for someone that truly made Dean happy. The kid was pretty damn close to Bobby's son, and Dean said numerous times that Bobby was a better father to him than John. He could always talk to Bobby and expect a straight answer, always depend on the older man for help. As a younger man, Dean could tell Bobby things without worrying about being hit.

"It would be deadly…if Castiel wasn't anchored in this vessel. Had this been Jimmy Novak that I was scanning, I'd likely be scanning a corpse. It's probable that his liver would have started having serious problems, intestines as well. The fetal movements alone could have caused internal bleeding."

"The baby does kick a good deal. She has inherited Dean's ability to beat me senseless." Cas smiled to himself, but Dean looked away, remembering all the times he'd actually done these things to the man he loved. They'd fought with one another a handful of times, and for being a human, Dean dished out a world of hurt with his punches and kicks. This was years ago, but the shame of the memories reminded him of how much like John he really was.

"It's good that you're actually feeling movement." Carrie urged, smiling again.

"Feeling movement? I've had cramps for a week." Cas assured. He wasn't kidding. The weight and pressure on his abdomen had increased a good deal. His feet started to hurt and swell when he walked around for a good deal of time.

Ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo

Dean and Sam were both busy on an assignment. They each had a loose end to tie up that lead to the same place. Dean's took him two hours away, investigating some missing people. He'd been working for a week, corresponding with Sam who was in the very next town. The two had the same problem. They'd come home to regroup before setting out again to take down the demon den that the two towns shared. Yes, it had been some time since the apocalypse was thwarted, and generally, demons still walked the Earth. It was only when they combined numbers and started getting ideas that they needed to be dealt with. The Winchesters were outnumbered in this endeavor, and in Castiel's slowed condition, Dean refused to let him accompany them. Bobby couldn't leave his home. They needed a partner.

"Meg, please don't let anything happen to him." Cas pleaded to her as she helped the Winchesters get the last of their items into the car.

"I promise I'll bring him back wrapped in ribbons and bells." She assured, smiling and placing a kiss on her favorite angel's cheek, much to Dean's seething jealousy. It was odd how much the two of them disliked each other, being that they were very much alike. Both were possessive, both were tough as nails and determined to have the last word. Both liked almost the same kind of music, but Meg threw in some deeper, darker heavy metal into her play list. Cas was sure that it was the fact that Meg was a demon that made their relationship so rocky. Ruby really had ruined any chance of any other demons being redeemed in the eyes of Dean Winchester.

"Hey, go get your own." Dean called, and it was time to go.

Castiel practically jumped into his human's arms, hugging him tight. "Are you sure you don't want me to go with?"

"It's going to be dangerous, and I wouldn't want anything to happen to you."

"I love you, Dean."

"I'll be fine. I love you too."

Ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo

The three left for their destination, with Meg stretched out in the back seat, in deep thought. She was putting herself at risk to protect Castiel's humans. These demons that they were going against saw her as a traitor and given the chance, they would rip her apart. There were many of them, and she was only one. She'd been rusty from her time spent in a human-esque life, and of course she was feeling doubt. The two humans she accompanied were not ordinary. She had a chance in their presence, but this was still a horrible idea.

It was even more horrible that once they'd set foot in the demon den, Dean insisted that Meg should stick with Sam, even though she'd been sworn to protect him. This human was stubborn as Hell though, and once he told her that she was going with Sam, that was it.

"Come on, big boy." Meg said suggestively, looking back at Dean with a wink as she linked her arm into Sam's. The two of them headed in one direction, while Dean headed in the other.

Watching Sam walk away with a demon girl still caused Dean some level of worry, but it was better than sending him off alone. Yes, it'd been a long time since Sam felt the hunger for demon blood, but Dean always wondered how dangerous the time bomb was that ticked away in his brother. There was no doubt that Meg could take care of herself if it came to a scuffle with Sam, but Dean didn't think she would even put up a fight at all. Demons were tricky, and if she could throw Sam under the bus to spite Dean, she would.

The thoughts of Sam had sent the older Winchester off of his A-game and he practically walked right into a small group of the demons that inhabited the den. They took off in a chase and Dean had no other choice but to run. He had no idea where he was heading, down dark halls, stumbling about over things that scattered the floor. It wasn't fair, demons were faster and more enduring of a long run than a human. Dean was losing ground to them, and just before he felt the scrapes of fingernails attempting to grip his jacket, he felt arms grasp him and before he had time to react, he was in a different place, with a familiar hand over his mouth.

He was in a small space. It was a walk-in closet, only about four paces wide, and it was less dark suddenly, the room bathed in green light that could only come from a glow stick. On the walls were a couple sigils, mold grew in the corners. This room had been forgotten, but the sigils were new.

"Shit." said a deep, monotone voice.

"Cas?" Dean called quietly when his mouth was released. He turned his head to find his angel standing before him, bracing his arm on the wall, leaning against it for support. He had a sheen of sweat on his forehead.

"They don't know we're here." Cas whispered as Dean reached for him.

"How did you get here? Where _is_ here?" Dean asked, feeling the warmth of the other's body against his.

"My abilities are so weak in this stage of my life. I only had enough juice in my batteries to 'zap' here. We're in the same den. This is nothing more than a closet. See the sigils? They can't get in…But I can't get out." Cas replied.

"Jesus, Cas. Why?" Dean was now distraught for beloved than feeling worried about himself as he was moments ago.

"You called me." Cas answered, sinking against the support of the bigger man, trying to catch his breath.

_I did_, Dean questioned himself. _Did I call to him? I'm so used to doing it when I need help, I might have, without thinking about it. _

"Shit." Dean replied.

"It's okay. You're safe. I got here just in time." Cas said, breathing now calm.

"No, we're stuck in this closet now. I'm so sorry I trapped you here."

"Shhh" Cas assured, running his fingers through Dean's hair. "We'll figure this out, one step at a time. Where's Meg?"

"I sent her with Sam." Dean replied, knowing he'd been caught.

"See, had you listened to me, this wouldn't have happened." Said a tone Dean knew all to well as 'Cas-knows-everything'.

His voice held pain. Dean noticed that, too. When Castiel was hurting, his voice got even more deep and gravelly than usual.

"Are you okay?"

"No." Cas answered flatly.

"We've talked about this. Elaborate." Dean insisted.

"Pressure. I have been cramping. It feels like I have to…go to the bathroom. But that's not it. I haven't had to. Not since I was human that time. Not at all while growing our baby. She has used every molecule of nutrients I have taken in."

"Does it hurt?" Dean asked, now concerned even more than he'd been.

"Yes, it certainly does hurt. Very much." Castiel replied, still holding an air of calm, though his eyes showed the pain he was trying to mask.

"Sit down." Dean insisted, worry now pulsing through his veins. _Sam, where are you? Damn, you're never around when I need you. We have no one, here. He's stuck here with me, and I'm the one to blame. _

"Please try not to be scared for me." Cas requested, taking Dean's hand in his, interlacing their fingers while he rested.

Ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo

An hour had gone by, and the two of them had been mostly quiet, especially when demons passed the hallway outside. Castiel had slipped into almost a dozing state a couple of times, only to jerk awake violently. His sweating intensified throughout the hour and it now practically poured as if he'd been exercising with great vigor. The white t-shirt he wore clung to his skin. His breathing was more rapid, now panting. He kept moans of pain to a minimum in front of Dean, not wanting him to see that he was hurting this badly. Blood started to appear from his nostrils, which he would quickly wipe away, but the scent of sweat and blood in the room became overpowering.

"You're bleeding."

"I'm hemorrhaging inside." Cas replied, in a voice that was inappropriately calm.

"What?! No!" Dean pleaded, not wanting to believe that the blood coming out of the most precious thing in his life was from a pool forming inside.

"It's okay, Dean. Everything will be okay."

"No. You're bleeding. We can't get out of this damn closet. You need a doctor. What the hell am I supposed to do?" His voice was choked up and scared.

"I'm prepared to go down with this ship." Cas whispered, reaching a hand up to cup the side of Dean's face, trying to be comforting, using his thumb to wipe away a tear that trickled down.

"You've been listening to Dido?" Dean asked, still unable to resist the urge to make fun.

"This is hardly the time or place to criticize my musical choices, but yes."


	4. Chapter 4

"I'm gonna take care of this. One way or another." Dean promised, looking into bloodshot eyes that just nodded along with very little comprehension.

"Dean."

"Yeah?"

"I have to tell you… I'm only seconds from screaming like a gut-shot wildabeast." Cas grumbled, through gritted teeth.

Dean looked around the room. There were different items stuffed into the corner of the closet. His eyes scanned over a chain, a broom, some nails, a dusty old bucket, and a rusty dust pan. He opted to grab the broom, snapping it over his knee.

"Dean…they're not vampires from the movies. Wood isn't going to do anything to them." Cas started to say, but Dean wasn't listening. Instead he was picking the chain up off the floor, and bracing himself with one hand on the doorknob.

"I'll be back for you." He said, not leaving a moment to hesitate before heading into the hallway. His urgent footsteps could be heard for only seconds to spare.

Ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo

The wooden stake and chain hadn't worked, of course. But in blind worry, Dean didn't care. He tried, and very quickly found himself fighting. He'd shivved away at one of them and strangled another, but neither died. He was in a predicament, on the ground, on his back, at their mercy. Before they set to ripping his guts out, he saw the blade of his demon knife burst through the eyeball of the more dominant one. As the male host fell forward, Dean lifted his head to see a panting Meg, standing in the 'I-just-threw-a-knife' pose, one hand out on front of her. Sam emerged from behind her moments later, rushing over to kick the other demon in the head so hard that teeth flew out of her mouth, not killing her but knocking her unconscious.

Dean noted to himself how messy Sam's hair appeared.

"Been fighting?" He asked.

"No." Sam replied, as Meg said "Yes" at the same time.

He eyed them both for a moment, trying to read their faces. But there was no time.

"Where the hell have you been?" Dean asked more angrily this time, like a pissed off mother.

"Same place you've been." Meg answered, having gotten her stamina back.

"Oh really? You've been trapped in a closet for an hour with a hemorrhaging angel?" Dean asked waving his hand like a maniac.

Meg's eyes widened. "Cas…" She barely whispered it before taking off like a shot through the dark, pushing past Sam and turning down the hall that Dean had just come from. The brothers followed her, keeping up as well as they could. Her graceful pace ended as she skidded to a halt in that same long hall, facing a group of demons that were just waiting for her.

She stood in front of Sam and Dean, eyes wide and jerking all over, keeping her eyes peeled for sudden movement.

"Hello Meg." One of them said.

"Let me through." She demanded.

The two spoke in a language that was not understood to the human men, but they could tell that Meg's tone was frantic. She was scared of the other demons, scared and grossly outnumbered.

"Sammy, do it. Do the thing." Dean whispered.

"I can't. I can't target. If I do it, Meg will die too." Sam replied.

"Do it right now. I don't have time for this. There's an emergency."

"Dean-"

"He's gonna die."

At the hesitation in Sam's gaze, Dean had a sudden brainwave. He moved, quickly, but the sudden stir in the air caused the demons to rush forward. Meg jumped forward to take the one coming closest, but was easily overcame and fought with as many as she could at one time. Dean took the demon knife Sam retrieved from the demon killed only moments ago and set to work running the blade over his left arm. Plunging his fingers into the dripping blood, he quickly traced a crude demon trap on the floor in front of where he stood, then ran forward into the cluster of demons.

Seconds later, he and Meg came out of the fray and he tackled her forward onto the trap, flat on her back with the weight of the human bearing down on top of her.

"Sam, now!" He yelled, placing a hand over Meg's mouth. On the demon trap, she would not be able to leave her host when Sam drew out the others. But it would still hurt, and she would still scream like a wild animal, sounding something like a howling wolf and an injured cat.

Sam's eyes closed and he focused, centering in on the crowd of demons. He'd gained strength in this field, without needing the demon blood. It helped, but it wasn't needed to destroy them anymore. And destroy them they did, sending clouds of gray all over the hall, watching them burst only moments later. His nose bled only a few moments this time, and in concern for Dean's life in more ways than one, he used all he had to take them down. His knees buckled and he dropped…like a moose.

Dean jumped up off of an shivering Meg and ran at break-neck speed down the same hall. The others would have to catch up once they regained their energy. Sam was going to be tired, and Meg was going to be sore from her inner demon banging around in her host without being permitted to escape. Sam would get up, and he would free her from the trap. Dean was busy.

He reached the same closet door he'd been in, wrenching it open, damn near tearing it from its hinges. Cas was in the same position he'd been in, sitting on the floor, breathing heavily, nose bleeding more than before, mixing with the sweat that blended into the white of his shirt.

"Hello Dean." He managed to say, before biting down on a cry of pain. Dean rushed forward, helping the smaller man to his feet.

"Come on, we're getting out." He tried to assure, crutching his angel and assisting his steps forward. He was hunching over, but remained able to follow Dean's steps until the two of them reached Sam and Meg. They'd just started down the hall together and Meg ran forward to crutch her friend's other side while Sam took off to get the car.

"Sam hurry!" Meg shouted in urgency.

Ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo

The Impala sped down the highway as fast as it could go, with four panicking people gathered within. Sam was driving, keeping his eyes forward on the road, but he continued to verbally check on the progress of the situation. Meg was in the front passenger seat, turned halfway around, doing anything she could in an attempt to help something that nobody understood.

Dean and Castiel were both in the back seats. The angel was sitting open legged, knees bent, bracing his back against the driver's side door, gripping the headrest of the front seat with his left hand and holding his abdomen with his right hand. His breath was coming out in ragged gasps, and Dean sat across from him, one hand holding himself up on the seat while the other braced one of Cas's legs.

A contraction and a groan ripped through the smaller man as he bit down on his lip to keep it from becoming a scream.

"Open the window." Sam suggested to Meg, who leaned over the seat and manually rolled down the window to let some of the night breeze into the car, in an attempt to sooth her friend's pain and rid the car of that bloody, sweaty smell.

"Talk to me. What's happening?" Meg asked Castiel, gripping the hand that was on the headrest, and she instructed him quietly to squeeze her hand when it hurt. He did, and her mouth shot open in pain but no sound came out.

"It hurts." Cas grunted, contracting again.

"You got this. Eye of the tiger, babe. Eye of the tiger." Dean encouraged in his panic.

"What does that even mean?" The angel grunted, holding his breath to keep the pain from reaching his brain.

"Can you push?" Meg asked, not sure how his body was going to facilitate this happening.

"Where to? There's nowhere for her to go. No exit." Cas replied, delirious.

"Maybe you are supposed to poop her out." Dean suggested, not able to think due to all the noise around him. This was happening. It was very likely to be labor and only six months had gone by. It was too early, and he had no idea what was about to happen to his beloved angel. It seemed like his vessel was not going to work with him at all.

"Not an option."

Ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo

"Bobby! Open the door!" Dean yelled from the driveway as he and Meg helped the angel out of the car and up the steps with Sam bringing up the rear.

The old man's eyes were wild with confusion, having no idea what was happening until the realization struck him like lightning. This was it. Today was probably the day that everything changed.

"Bathroom." Cas demanded. He and Dean went into the closest bathroom and closed the door behind them. Dean didn't know what was going to happen here, but figured that Castiel would want a little privacy.

He watched as the angel sat down on the floor in front of the bathtub, kicking the floor mat out of the way. He brought his knees up again, flattening his feet on the floor to absorb contracting pain. His legs parted slightly and he worked on pulling off his shirt, revealing a bruised belly and sweat slicked skin. He took a second to unbutton his pants and take a peek inside, sighing in irritation and looking up at Dean.

"No birth canal present. I have to cut her out." Cas said. "Dean, go and get me a knife. This hurts so bad, and there's no other way."

Numb, Dean got up, walking briskly into the kitchen, taking a butcher knife and running back to the bathroom, past the confused gazes of the people waiting for news.

He handed the knife to his angel, shaking violently. The angel gripped the handle after he wiped the sweat from his palm onto his pants. Using the blade, he cut the left leg from his pants, just below the knee, ripping the fabric off and placing the length of it into his mouth, biting down.

Hardly able to think, the angel pinpointed a place on his lower right abdomen that seemed like a good start and then dragged the blade of the knife across the flesh. It spurted blood and then the wound closed. He tried again, and again. Each time, blood would pour from the wound, but it would close before anything could be done.

"Goddamn angel healing!" Cas shouted, casting the knife aside. "Dean, I need an angel blade."

Dean stared forward, eyes wide at the blood all over the floor and his angel's horribly stretched skin. It was awfully hot in this room, maybe all the breathing and sweating. It was hot, though. Who cares why. Dean started to stand, opening the door, and then buckling like being shot. His head made a loud thunking noise on the wooden floor of the hallway, out cold.

_Fainting? Dean really? This is hardly the time or place. I'm about to have a baby, and you're laid out in the hall._

"BOBBY!" Castiel shrieked from his helpless place on the floor.

The old man came barreling down the hallway, stepping over an unconscious Dean.

"Angel blade." Was all the angel could say.

The older man spun on his heel and took off again, returning moments later with an angel blade in his hand. He sat on the floor with a thud, handing the blade off to Castiel's bloody hand, which was shaking violently as he attempted to cut his flesh again.

"I can't. My hands are shaking." He pushed the knife toward the frantic old man.

"Cas, this is an _angel_ blade. Remember last time? You barely had a poke and you were a weak ball of nothing. This is gonna kill you." Bobby reasoned.

"It's the only way. It hurts so much! Please just- Bobby please!"

"Okay-OKAY!" The human shouted, bracing himself to drive the end of the knife into his friend's skin.

"Bobby, keep…both hands on the wheel." Cas reminded, closing his eyes and holding his breath, feeling the blade cut a smile across his lower belly. Pain shot through every nerve he had, both human and angel and his vision went black just after releasing a long repressed scream.

Ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo

Dean's eyes slid open, seeing Sam sitting at the foot of his bed, looking at him in concern. His head hurt right away and he reached up to feel a rather large bump sporting a rip through his eyebrow. _Everything went black. I was at home. Cas was…now I'm here._

He tried to sit up as soon as the memory came rushing forward. Sam leaned forward_, _pushing his brother back down gently. His eyes were shiny like they would be whenever Sam was scared.

"Cas?" Dean asked, wincing and waiting for some sort of answer, and when Sam continued to just look at him like he was, he crumbled. He started muttering _no no no no _to himself. He tried to sit up, being caught in the arms of his younger brother, his pillar of strength.

"Dean."

"No, Sam. No." Dean sobbed.

"Dean."

"My life is over."

"Dean, please calm down. You're not thinking clearly. He's alive, just listen." Sam assured, patting his brother's back.

"He is?" Dean sniffed.

"Yes. It got real bad for a bit, but he's still with us. He's been out since just after you went out. We didn't want to wake him up. He's in a lot of pain, so sleep is better than anything else." Sam assured.

Dean made a noise in his throat and clutched Sam tighter, laughing.

"Hey, lovebirds." Meg said quietly, a gentle smile on her face and a small bundle of something in her arms. "Wanna see?" She asked, as she rocked the little thing back and forth gently. Meg actually looked good with a baby in her arms.

"You didn't try to eat her?" Dean asked, just being his usual assy self to her.

"Just once. Sam had to tazer me and handcuff me to the coffee table until the withdrawals stopped. Fun stuff." She winked, taking a few steps forward and placing the tiny creature into Dean's arms when he pulled away from Sam's grasp. He looked down at the thing. Meg must have spent some time with her, because the baby was dressed in a tiny pink outfit designed for premature babies. She had a little band with a pink flower adorning it on her tiny head, amidst a full growth of dark hair that looked just like Cas's. She was wrapped in a white blanket, sleeping soundly.

Dean clutched the little thing to himself, hugging her and kissing her forehead, which woke her up. Her little eyes opened. They were Dean's eyes. At first, he was worried that two guys would form a masculine orc of a child, but she was beautiful. She was precious, and reminded Dean of his angel, she was the spawn of their love. She was the most amazing thing that anyone had given him, and she was here because of Cas.

"Can I go see him?" Dean asked, knowing that Meg and Sam knew who he meant. Of course he wanted to see Castiel. It was the first thing on his mind when he woke up.

"Yeah, come on." Meg offered her hand. In this situation, Dean grasped her hand, forgetting all about their issues with one another. She led him downstairs to the same other room bed that had been used by nearly everyone that came through the house. It was Adam's at the point in time which he was held at Bobby's house. Sam and Cas had actually spent a night passed out in it years ago.

There was Cas, laying on his back, propped up on pillows, mouth slightly open and sound asleep. This section of the room looked much cleaner than usual, and the sheets and blankets around the smaller man were a new white color. His eyes peeled open slowly when he felt the presence of someone in the room and looked to see Dean holding their child, just standing there, unsure of what to do.

"Hello Dean." He said in the same way he had for years.

Dean came and sat down beside his angel, careful not to sit too roughly. He didn't want to cause Cas anymore pain than he was probably in. He leaned down, placing a kiss over chapped lips before drawing back.

"You okay, Cas?"

"I'm alive. Say, would you mind passing me that whiskey on the coffee table?" Castiel asked, smiling softly. Now that this was over, he could use a drink. Whiskey would help ease the soreness.

Dean's hands were full, so Meg stepped forward, opened the cap and handed the bottle to Cas, who took a long swill of it, before looking back to Dean.

"I'm okay, my love." He announced, patting Dean's thigh gently. "Can I see?" He motioned toward the baby that he still hadn't seen 12 hours after her birth.

"Yeah." Dean said simply, waiting as Cas brought himself to almost a sitting position, the blanket sliding down his bare upper body. His arms supported the little bundle that held his precious baby. He held her snug, looking down at her with a smirk.

"She looks like you." Cas whispered, leaning his head against Dean, who was sitting directly beside him now. "Beautiful little thing. She's perfect. Bobby did such a fine job of bringing her."

"Speaking of which, are you…held together?" Dean asked.

"Yes…with fishing line." Cas replied, raising an eyebrow and clicking his tongue against his teeth. When Dean moved to take a look under Cas's blanket, the angel shook his head firmly. "You don't want to see it. Trust me."

"She's tiny, isn't she?" Dean said, moving away from the subject of Cas's wounds.

"Yes. Strange, because the hybrid of angels and demons are supposed to be giants."

"They are?" Dean asked, eyes widening.

"They are. But in my dreams, she's normal in stature. Perhaps she will be a giant in a more symbolic way."

"Hopefully, because if she ends up being seven feet tall, we're gonna have to deal with those damn WNBA games."

"Dean, can I tell you something?"

"Yeah, you know you can."

"When I gave birth, my…I lost my grace." Cas said slowly, trying to taper his words more accordingly.

"Wait. What? What does that mean?"

"It was my final fall. Years ago, I began my long fall from Heaven, when I pulled you from Hell. Everything we have done together has changed me. Everything has been worth it, this life with you. It's been beautiful. The birth, being cut by the angel blade removed my grace."

Dean continued to stare as if this were being told to him in another language.

"I'm human again, Dean. Mortal, just like you. I'm going to live a fully mortal life with you. We're a family now."


	5. Chapter 5

"Are you…okay with this?" Dean started, not knowing what else to say, and realizing how foolish the question was before it was all the way out of his mouth.

Cas snorted a laugh, "I don't have much of a choice, do I? But yes. I'm happy about it. I get to live a human life, with you. I don't have to live for ages long after you've died."

Dean smiled at this. It was the truth. With his angel falling far from grace, their profound bond was as complete as it could be on Earth.

"Now how about we come up with a name for her?" Cas requested, still snuggling safely with his beloved human and his child.

"How about Grace?" Dean suggested.

"That's a little on the nose, isn't it?" Cas asked.

"Okay, can we give her Jo as a middle name?" Dean requested, to which Cas nodded, stating that he liked Jo and it would honor her memory to give the baby her name.

"How about Paisley?" The smaller man mentioned.

"You are so gay, Cas. Naming our daughter after clothing patterns."

Castiel smiled. That wasn't really his intention, but he found Dean rather humorous today.

"Lets call her Crowley. Nobody would mess with her having a name like that." Dean added.

"Ugh, let's not. Nobody would even like her if she were named Crowley."

"Except Bobby." They both laughed. Bobby never did live down the kiss with Crowley, years ago.

"Bailey?" Dean asked.

"I like it. Bailey Johanna Winchester."

"Bailey Jo" Dean added, directing the name toward the baby, who sat staring at her dads. The adorable little thing started to fuss after being played with for a few minutes.

"Someone's hungry." Dean noted.

Cas pointed toward his flat chest, "What am I supposed to do about it?" He asked, not sure how else to feed a baby besides what he'd seen in nature.

"I was talking about me. But Bailey is probably hungry too."

"Well, let's take care of her, first, shall we?" Cas replied, taking another long drink of whiskey.

Ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo

Sam was quite the uncle, having gone shopping for baby items when his brother and Cas were unconscious. He figured out how to make a bottle, how to change a diaper, and basically now to take care of a baby when Cas was exhausted and couldn't do it. When Dean was out working, Sam did almost everything at home. His time spent with his niece was valued to him, but he was also concerned for his friend. It was taking Cas a long time to heal. He'd been in bed for a week and didn't show signs of being able to get up any time soon. While the baby was asleep in Bobby's study, Sam took to examining the former angel's wounds.

"Cas, you doing okay?" Sam asked.

His friend nodded, but hadn't eaten anything that he was offered. He said he was too nauseated and didn't want to throw up.

"I've been laying here…watching Lifetime for hours on end, in a constant, semi-drunk haze. I'm excellent, Sam."

"I'm concerned about your drinking." Sam continued.

"It numbs the discomfort." Cas insisted, sounding much like Doc Holiday on Tombstone. "Sam, why do women stay? Why? In a relationship that's horrid, one full of abuse and neglect and infidelity…"

"You need to stop with the Lifetime movies."

"Mind-numbing poison. You know, two days ago, when Dean left for work, we were fine, and somehow Lifetime brainwashed me into being mad at him when he got home?"

"You're still hurting." Sam changed the subject, "We need to get you some actual medicine. Now that you're human, we can't keep killing your liver with booze. Can I see your stitches?"

The angel shook his head, not wanting his friends to see what his wounds had become. But Sam insisted, gently pulling the blanket down to observe the smile-like incision. It looked angry. The opening was held closed by fishing line, but the skin all around it was red, and the wound itself was not healing. Instead, it was emitting puss.

"You're sick because you have an infection." Sam said, exasperated. _Why didn't Dean check this earlier?_

"I'm sorry, Sam."

"Don't be sorry. Its not something to feel bad about. But you should have told somebody."

"I thought this was supposed to hurt." Cas replied, thinking his wound was normal until a moment ago.

Sam's eyes scanned his friend, up to where Cas was leaning into his pillow, a streak of something red staining the white material behind his shoulders.

"I need you to lean forward for me, okay?" Sam instructed, helping the weak person in his care to lift himself enough to sit up. His pillow was a mess, having soaked up blood and more infectious ooze from his back, where two more wounds were present. There were two deep gashes on each of the fallen angel's shoulder blades, replacing the soft divits that used to be there. These wounds were open, swollen, and obviously also infected.

"Where did you get these?" Sam asked, concerned.

"I can't see them. What are these?" Cas asked.

"You have two cuts on your back where your wing divits were."

"Then my best guess would be, the marks of the fallen. It's where my wings were ripped out when I became human. When an angel loses grace and becomes human, their wings are torn away." Cas explained, having not realized that the wounds were present at all. He didn't feel them anymore.

"This is bad. I need to go get Bobby."

Ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo

"His system isn't fighting the infection." Bobby noted grimly.

He and Sam spent days pumping antibiotics into their friend, cleaning his wounds, and assuring Dean that everything would be okay. Between caring for the baby, and caring for Cas, the group was all stretched very thin. Bobby compared the infection with what would happen if a baby were to get that sick. Cas's immune system was new, not matured at all, and unable to withstand the healing process.

"What next?" Dean asked, becoming desperate. His angel was fading, sick and exhausted all of the time. The wounds weren't looking as horrid as they had a week ago, but they still would have been open had they not been stitched closed.

"I don't know, kid." Bobby replied. "Just try to make him comfortable. Do anything you can to help. He's gonna have to keep fighting this. We'll get some IV fluid if we have to."

Ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo

"Cas, tell me you're not dying."

"Okay. I'm not dying." He repeated.

"Seriously, look at me. I'm a mess. I need you to be okay." Dean continued, laying beside his angel, in the same bed he hadn't left since Bailey's birth.

"How's the baby?" Cas asked, changing the subject.

"She's fine, Sam's giving her a bath right now. First one. That nasty cord thingy finally fell off."

"Dean, I'm sorry I'm not feeling well. There's nothing I'd rather do than be out of bed spending time with the two of you. I've hardly held her. Can I?" He asked weakly.

"Yeah. Just a sec."

When Dean returned, he had their little one braced in one of his arms. She was crying a bit, having hated her bath. She had a clean diaper on but hadn't been changed into clothes yet, and Dean passed the little creature to a tired Cas, bracing her weight so that he didn't drop her. He laid her down on her stomach against Cas's shirtless upper body, high up enough to where she didn't rest against his wound.

Oddly enough, she instantly stopped crying and laid down, resting with her dad. Cas held her with weak arms, kissing her head once and talking to her, before Dean put a clean blanket over the two of them. Both needed to stay warm, the baby because she was little, and Cas because the infection was causing hot and cold sweats and getting too cold would have been just another challenge for him. Dean stood quietly and watched the two most important people in his life, bonding. Cas was a natural at this, talking to babies. He didn't make weird noises or speak in baby language. He talked to his daughter like a person would.

"I'm so damn tired." Cas said eventually, eyelids heavy, but still smiling down at Bailey as she slept.

Dean decided against removing the baby. Instead he nestled down with them, wrapping an arm around both Cas and Bailey before allowing himself to fall asleep with them.

Ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo

"Dean, wake up!" Came a gruff voice from nearby.

The human jolted awake in surprise, and the first thing he saw was Cas's happy blue eyes looking into his. He looked different. His skin wasn't so clammy, actually it wasn't clammy at all. He looked rested, and had some color back to his face. The heavy brown lines under his eyes were no longer present.

"What's going on?" Dean asked, sitting up, wondering where the baby went. "Where's-"

"With Sam. She got hungry again. But I have something to show you right now." He didn't wait for Dean to ask. Instead he sat up, stretching to show a pink scar stretched across his abdomen. The fishing line was gone, as was the puss and the scabbing and the discoloration. The scar was bright in color, almost red, but it was a scar nonetheless.

"How did that…how?" Dean didn't know what he was asking, or how to ask it. It was only the night before that his angel was losing his fight against the infection. He looked so weak and sick last night. Dean had been secretly worried about whether or not he would wake up this morning, but there he was.

His fallen angel turned to show the wounds that had been stretched across his back. They changed as well, now the same pink scar where a festering wound had been only hours ago.

"I think it was her." Cas replied. "I think that the baby healed me when we were both sleeping. I was worried about her. I thought maybe it took all of her energy. But she's okay. She's still just as healthy as she was."

It made sense. Bailey was half-angel. She still had some form of grace, even as a baby. It wasn't expected that something this small could provide healing, but how else could it be explained? She'd been one with Cas for months, and it was possible that her grace knew how to heal a form she'd spent so much time in.

Ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo

Five Years Later:

"Hurry your butt up, kid!" Dean called from downstairs.

"Calm down, Pops. I'm right here." A five year old Bailey said, standing almost literally right beside where her dad stood with his hand on the stairs banister.

"God, you're like your father, always sneaking up on me when I least expect it. Cas, come on. I just got one person ready, you need to speed it up, we're gonna be late."

The former angel came walking out of the downstairs bathroom, straightening his tie, still backwards after five years. "Sorry. My hair is getting gray, trying to cover it up."

"You don't look any different than you did five years ago." Dean replied, impatient. Cas was always picking at himself in the mirror, complaining about his eyes, heartburn, and nonexistent gray hair. It was still dark as ever.

"You look awesome, Mommy." Bailey piped.

"Dean, how many times have I asked you to refrain from getting our child to call me Mommy?" Cas asked, while getting himself a rather gigantic cup of black coffee.

"I'm messing with you, Daddy." Bailey added, hugging Cas about the waist. She had Dean's sense of humor, which could be a lot to handle.

She was a cute little girl, with long, dark hair and huge eyes. For the most-part she was human, and Bobby taught her how to play off the rest. _Fake it til you make it_, like Dean once told Sam. She was a small-statured thing, but tough as nails, never crying when she fell down. Bailey was tomboyish, just like Jo and just as pretty as she'd been. The kid was a ball of energy during the day and would be completely calm and quiet at night. Already able to read, she would sit down in bed with a book and whisk into dreams.

"You ready? Got all your crap?" Dean asked, not meaning to call her backpack full of school items crap.

"Got my crap, Dad Squared." Bailey had certain names she would call her dads. Dean was usually Padre, Pops, Dad Squared, Pappy, or Pie. She called Cas Daddy, Dad, Beep, or Mommy on occasion.

"Dean, you're teaching our child-"

"Nag nag nag, Cas."

"Whatever, just get in the car." Cas made a strange sort of face at the way that the word 'whatever' slid off his tongue. He reminded himself not to use it again.

"You heading out?" Came the voice of undead Bobby.

"Yep." Bailey said, smiling as she ran over to the old man, giving him a hug. He swelled pridefully, returning the hug, watching the little girl pick up her backpack and lunch bag before heading out the door with her dads.

"Bye Bobby!" She waved. Bobby noted years ago that 'uncle' Bobby wasn't necessary, because as a toddler, Bailey had a hard time saying the word 'uncle'. So he just went by Bobby.

Ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo

"You're Bailey's parents, right?" A friendly looking woman asked. She was brunette, and actually reminded Dean of Future Cas, except this woman was genuinely happy and hopefully not high as hell on amphetamines, opiates, or weed at that exact moment sandwiched in the middle of a sweaty orgy in a post-apocalyptic warzone. _Must be one of those hippies_, Dean thought to himself, momentarily distracted by his previous orgy thought. She was on the young side, and relatively thin. She was one of those people that looked just fine without makeup on. She wasn't wearing any, and had some wooden hoop earrings on, beads in her hair, and flats on her feet that looked like they were made out of hemp.

"Yep, Dean Winchester," Dean said, introducing himself in that confident way he always did, "this is my other half." He said, motioning to Cas, who nodded to her.

"Castiel Winchester," He said, following Dean's lead. The two of them hadn't met Bailey's kindergarten teacher yet, as Sam was the one that took her to school on the first day. They'd missed it, being literally tied up at work, having gotten stuck in abandoned Arachne webs. Bailey was pretty pissed at them that day, but when they explained the problem, she was quick to forgive.

"Ohh, that's pretty. Are you foreign?" She asked, eyes wide and excited.

"In a…matter of speaking, yes."

"Have a seat. We'll go over your daughter's progress." Today was parent-teacher conference.

"How is she doing?" Dean asked. Cas pretty much kept quiet during social situations, just listened along, nodding accordingly to note that he was paying attention.

"Bailey is incredibly bright, and I don't have any complaints. She behaves well, and she's helpful, always offering a hand to the other kids when they don't understand something. She's a gifted girl. Very much her own person. A little rough around the edges, but she's a riot. Two weeks ago, one of the second grade boys was making fun of her little friend, another of my students Josh, and Bailey reamed this kid. Normally, I would have disciplined her, but that kid is a real problem. I know the teacher in his class, and she always says that he's rather cruel."

Ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo

Later on, driving to a job after their meeting, Dean decided to make some talk.

"Did Bailey ever mention Josh to you?" He asked Cas.

"No, why? She talks about her friends, but doesn't usually say their names directly."

"I'm just wondering."

"No you're not, talk to me."

"Maybe I should have Sam check this kid out-"

"Dean, they're five years old, love. Calm down. I'm sure her being friends with a boy is innocent at that age." Cas replied, trying not to laugh at Dean's over-protective-daddage.

"I just don't want her growing up too fast."

"I can only imagine what you're going to be like when she's 16 and our little princess starts dating."

"Like Hell she's gonna be dating at 16. Over my bloated corpse, Cas."

"How old were you when you started dating?" Castiel asked.

"Around 11 when I had my first kiss. I moved pretty quick after that. You?"

"Uh…a few millennia. Trust me, we have nothing to worry about. I think it's good that she has friends of the opposite gender. You were five years old once."

"Yeah, that's what worries me. I was an ass." Dean noted, staring ahead.


	6. Chapter 6

"Dad, where's the honey?" Bailey asked, sitting on the counter top in the kitchen, scanning around the cupboards.

Cas sat on a stool at the island counter, reading the funnies in the newspaper and drinking a cup of coffee. He looked up for a second, eyeing his daughter as if trying to remember before he nodded to himself, chuckling into his cup as he took another drink.

"Daddy, honey! Where is it?" Bailey asked, causing her dad to laugh louder.

"What are you yelling about, kid?" Dean mumbled, walking into the kitchen.

"Daddy won't tell me where the honey is. I want some for my toast." Bailey replied, barely finishing her sentence before Dean also burst into laughter.

"Where indeed?" He joked, winking at Cas. "That reminds me, I need a shower."

Bailey raised an eyebrow. As a five year old, she had no idea that her dads incorporated the bear-shaped jar of sweet, sticky fluid into their lovemaking the night prior. She just shrugged and got off the counter top, going to the fridge for jelly instead.

"Cas, how's your stomach?" Dean wondered aloud.

"Still rather full and quakey. No human being should swallow down ¾ of an entire jar in one sitting. I feel bad for the bees, working so hard and me using up their produce for my own pleasure." Cas replied, looking back down at his newspaper and muttering something to the cartoons. Something along the lines of _"well Cathy, if you invested that energy that you burn up with hating men, maybe you'd have a date and we'd all be happy. Like Hagar over here."_

While the two men were talking, there came a knock at the front door, which neither of them heard. Bailey rolled her eyes and went to the front room to answer it. Her excited little voice squealed, "Uncle Sammy!" Followed by the sounds of Sam pretending to be a dinosaur and scooping the little girl up. He made a groaning sound a second later and a rustling sound could be heard.

"You should have been more careful, Godzilla." Came a deep, female voice that Dean knew had to be Meg. Shortly after Bailey was born, Sam and Meg started spending a lot of time together while Dean was working. The two of them and Bobby took care of the baby while Cas was sick. It took another six months before Dean literally caught them in the act, just like Sam had done with him and Cas years ago. They'd been secretly dating, knowing Dean would probably be pissed, but it was something he had to deal with. Whether he wanted to believe it or not, Sam just had a thing for demon girls and he and Meg went way back. She knew Sam, knew what he liked, and they fit together. Dean waited and waited for the day she would betray Sam, but it never came, and he was wrong all over again.

Sam found his way into the kitchen, bare from the waist up, holding his bunched up shirt in his hand.

"Hello Sam." Cas said in his normal 'hello' voice. He looked up at the younger brother, eyes widened slightly and he forgot about his comics for a moment, staring at Sam's tanned flesh. There was no doubt in the world that the former-angel loved Dean with every fiber of his being, but he was close with Sam as well, and didn't deny to himself how breathtaking the younger Winchester was. _How in the hell did John and Mary create such beautiful sons? There's no doubt about it, my daughter got her pretty face from the Winchester genes._ Sure, Bailey was only a little girl now, but she was adorable and would be a beautiful woman when she grew. This didn't worry Cas as much as it bothered his partner. He'd felt Bailey's grace, saw her strength first hand when she was still living amongst his organs. She would never fall to a human.

"Cas, would you mind rolling your tongue back up and pushing your eyes back into your head?" Dean asked, noting his angel's staring. "What's with your manliness busting in all of a sudden?" Dean asked, motioning to Sam's shirtlessness.

"Bailey got jelly on me when I hugged her a second ago." Sam explained, asking to borrow one of Dean's shirts, even though the two were not the same size. Dean sighed, motioning to the laundry room where his fresh t-shirts were just done drying.

Meg stepped around her moose, hugging Cas and gaining a roll of the eyes from Dean. "Hi Clarence." Cas nodded a hello before Meg turned and intercepted a hug from Bailey. For a demon, Meg certainly got accustomed to human greetings. She also inherited human jealousy and beat the shit out of a human woman that flirted a little too obviously with Sam at the beginning of their relationship. She was territorial, and Sam was hers.

Dean even stopped calling her names eventually, trying to be civil with her for Sam's sake. At first, he hated their relationship with a passion. He was sure as salt that his brother was going to go back to the way he was with Ruby, addicted to demon blood and being a dick to his family and friends. But he didn't. Meg actually didn't manipulate him at all. He never asked for her blood and she never offered it. Eventually, the older Winchester let his tension go and figured that for once, a demon girlfriend might not be the worst thing for Sam. He seemed happy.

"Are we still on for going to the lake?" Dean asked.

It was the weekend and a warm spring day, probably the beginning of another hot summer. Dean mentioned earlier that week that he wanted to take the 'family' out and have fun for a day. They all thought it was a good idea, except for Bobby who couldn't go. He said he would just man down the fort and do whatever it was that the undead do when the living aren't around.

"I invited Gabriel." Sam started, "I hope that's okay."

Sam and Gabriel shared an odd relationship, much like what Cas shared with Meg, except on a more intense level. Their bromance was almost romance. Between Cas and Meg, there was definitely the girlfriend-like friendship. The two told each other everything. They cared deeply for one another, but Sam and Gabriel were almost like Sam and Dean. It was written in the stars for the two of them to know each other. Not only did they tell each other everything, but most of the things they did were done together. They loved each other, to the point where the two would actually say 'love you' before parting. They shared long, awkward hugs, and on movie nights at Dean's house, Sam could be seen snuggling with a demon woman on his left side and an angel man on his right. Oddly enough, as jealous as Meg was, this didn't bother her. She usually just made a joke of it, saying that man-love ran in the Winchester family.

"Goody." Cas said flatly. "My brother and I haven't spent any quality time together in too long."

Ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo

"Bye Bobby!" Bailey called. She always hated that Bobby couldn't leave the house. Everytime she went out to do something fun, she would always bring her dad's video camera with her and record the fun so that Bobby could watch it later.

"Bye sweetie. You have a good time. Wear your floaties." Bobby insisted, even though Bailey knew how to swim.

"Bobby I haven't needed those since I was three. But I will bring my fishing pole and catch you some fish for the pond." Bailey added sweetly, hugging the clammy old man.

"That sounds like a plan. I love ya, little girl."

"Love you too!" Bailey loved everyone. Her teacher must have thought that the Winchesters were one weird family when Bailey drew a picture of all of them for show and tell. The picture was pretty high quality stick figures showing her two dads with one firing a gun into the air with one hand and holding a beer with the other. The other stick figure dad was in a tan coat with a raised eyebrow expression on his face and black wings that could be mistaken for fluffy clouds on his back. There was also a very tall one that the teacher knew to be her uncle Sam. Stick figure Sam had his arm around a long haired woman with fire around her and a short guy with little white wings jumping on Sam's back piggy-ride-style. There was a bearded old man with a white face, known to be Bobby, a red-haired girl dancing to music which the label said was Charlie, and a well-dressed yelling man that showed up in some of her drawings called Crowley.

Bailey's teacher always said how 'creative' and 'imaginative' the little girl was.

Ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo

Once at the lake, everybody seemed to be having a good time. Meg was laying in the grass under a tree in her bathing suit, skin shimmering in the sunlight due to the tanning butter she was wearing. Sam was standing on the bank, trying to convince Gabe to keep his pants on and not strip down to a man-speedo.

"Come on, Gabe. The baby doesn't want to see that." Sam noted.

"Yeah, Gabe. Keep your drawers on, fool!" Bailey yelled from where she was swimming with Dean.

"Fine. You guys win. It's cause I'm fat, isn't it?" Gabe whined, jokingly but he was playing it off well.

"You know you're not fat. You're the size of a Twix bar." Sam cooed, drawing the shorter man in for a dramatic hug, much like he did to that college kid many years ago when the Winchesters first encountered Gabe as the Trickster.

"Thanks, kiddo." Gabriel said flatly, patting Sam's tanned back.

Cas curled down where Meg was laying, reading a book in one of Dean's t-shirts and a pair of mesh shorts. The former angel wasn't fond of water unless it was for drinking or showering or when it was raining. He never learned how to swim and his skinny, toned body didn't float well enough for his liking. Years ago, he sank like a rock while trying to purge Leviathans from his vessel.

Ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo

"Marco!" Dean said, eyes closed and wading around in the end of the lake where he was still able to reach the bottom.

"Polo!" Bailey, Sam, and Gabriel yelled swimming farther away from Dean.

"I think you guys are cheating. I haven't caught any of you." Dean mumbled.

"You're probably just bad at this game, Pops." Bailey suggested.

"Kid, Hell no. I used to be the champ at this game with your uncle." Dean insisted.

"Almost drowning me every time you caught me isn't being a champ." Sam contradicted.

While Sam was talking, Dean lunged forward, gripping his brother's wrist and pulling him forward.

"Dammit! You suck, Dean." Sam groaned, stepping back and then pausing, eyes widening huge.

"Sammy?" Dean questioned, tapping the bigger man's shoulder.

Sam's eyes met Dean's, showing that he heard, but his eyes were huge and he held his mouth closed like he did when he didn't want to say something really screwed up.

"You okay?" Dean asked, giving his brother a looking over.

"No." Sam grunted out quietly.

"Well, what the hell is wrong with you?"

"Dean, um…" Sam started, trying to step forward and the water around him started to change a murky red.

"Shit! Gabe, come help!" Dean called, still not aware of what was happening but he knew Sam needed help.

"No! Don't step by me. Just go backward and I'll follow." Sam managed to say, pointing toward the shore.

Dean took his brother's arm and with the help of Gabe who didn't listen to Sam's request, the two of them got the younger Winchester onto the rocky bank, pulling his right foot out of the water to show that the first and second toes were completely gone, not even a stump remaining. The wounds poured blood down his leg. Sam appeared to be in no pain yet, but his eyes were still shockingly wide.

"What the hell happened, kiddo?" Gabriel asked, yanking off Cas's shirt as he and Meg approached, without asking, and wadded the material around Sam's bleeding foot. Cas's eyes widened as well, and he took shelter behind Meg's petite frame. It'd been five years since Bailey was born and Cas was still not okay with being shirtless around his friends. The scar Bobby cut into him turned white long ago, but it was still big and it stretched across his torso. Even though Dean assured him that scars were sexy, Cas didn't see it that way. He openly refused to be even half-naked unless it was only he and Dean together.

"I don't know." Sam said quietly, turning his head into Meg's chest when she guided him towards her, trying to keep his eyes off the shirt that was soaking full of blood around his foot. "I stepped on something, and I felt a pinch. It was fast."

"Snapping turtle." Cas clarified.

"Sammy, I don't know what to tell you. Your toes are gone." Dean noted aloud.

"Uncle Sammy!" Bailey was terrified, petting her uncle's leg, trying to be comforting.

Dean and Cas looked at each other in unison, each coming up with the same idea. Bailey was the only being with angel blood still actively coursing through her veins at the time. She'd never been sick before. None of them were fully aware of her abilities, but if she gained anything from the grace she took from her dad upon her birth, she could help.

"Bailey, honey. Your uncle would like you to stop the bleeding. Do you think you can do that?" Cas asked the little girl as simply as he could.

"I don't know how to, Daddy." Bailey squeaked, panicked.

"First, lay a hand on Sam, anywhere you want. Then use your imagination. Imagine the wound getting better really fast. Picture the bleeding stopping, okay? Close your eyes." Cas explained, trying to remember years ago when he was able to heal others.

Bailey closed her eyes, flattening her hand over the top of Sam's ankle, not close enough to be touching his foot, but it was close enough to where her hand was palm down in blood.

"Take a deep breath, Bailey. You can do this." Cas assured, hoping that his daughter's half-angel blood had the strength to help. This was a lot to ask of a five year old child all of a sudden, but he and Dean already decided against training her as an angel, because she was too young.

"Don't think about his toes coming back. That's too much for you to do on your first try. Just picture the blood stopping first, turn it from an open wound into scabs." Cas instructed.

Bailey sucked in a deep breath, squeezing her eyes closed tight and trying with all of her might to do what her dad asked of her, wanting to help her uncle. To a scared little girl, all that blood made her think Sam was going to die if she didn't help him. Tears welled up behind her closed eyes and pushed their way down her cheeks. She didn't know how to do this, didn't know what was going to happen, but the last thing she wanted to do was be the one that didn't help Sam. Bobby told her stories about angels before, said that her dad Cas brought him back from the dead once. He was once a great healer before he fell from grace.

_Please help my Uncle Sammy. Please make it stop,_ she prayed to herself over and over.

"Bailey." Sam whispered, snapping the little girl out of her mantra. Her eyes opened to see blue waves of what appeared to be smooth electricity heading from her hand down to her uncle's foot and up under the wadded shirt. The electricity disappeared after about ten seconds, much slower than Cas or Gabriel were able to do in their hay day, but it happened. When Gabriel peeled off the bloody shirt, Sam's toes were still gone, but the wound was no longer bleeding. It was still red and it looked very sore, but it wasn't bleeding.

"You did it." Dean praised, high-fiving his daughter.

"Thanks, you did so good." Sam agreed, looking at his foot, assuring his niece that he wasn't in any pain. Of course now Sam couldn't go to a hospital to get the foot looked at. They'd freak out of his toes got bitten off less than five minutes ago and the wound was already healing. Angels, monsters, and demons were still a secret to most in this world. Instead, the group took Sam up farther onto the bank and let him sit with Meg until it was time to go home. Cas spent a few minutes washing the blood out of the shirt he'd been wearing. It wasn't blood-free, but it was good enough and he put it back on, covering his torso and feeling secure again.

Ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo

Two days went by and Sam's foot was starting to be sore as hell walking around on it. The wound stayed closed, but it swelled to the point where he didn't want to keep a shoe on it. Instead, Sam was over at his brother's house, bandaged and socked foot up on top of the coffee table while he sat on the couch. Meg managed to round him up some Oxycodone, which made the pain subside, but also made Sam a little loopy. As of right now, everybody was visiting while Bailey was upstairs practicing for the school play. Sam sat playing Bobby's old banjo. He'd learned how to play as a kid and was banging out a tune that sounded much like something from the Black Keys, but the lyrics weren't the same. Instead he sang quietly, in his calm, kind of doped up voice. He sang slow, trying to make a rap song come out sounding more like folk.

"_I need a biiiitch,  
Fresh out the pen,  
I need a bitch like Harland Williams needs a chin  
I need a bitch,  
A mental case,  
Catch me cheat and shoot us both in the face"_

Dean stared at his brother as if Sam grew another leg. Sam smiled and winked at Meg.

"_I need a hoe, to use me for my money.  
I need a bitch like Chris Candido needed Sunny.  
I need a freak,  
Like cherry pie  
Like whipped cream and lemon ch-ch-cherry pie.  
I need a woman, to let me hit it-"_

Sam stopped when Bailey started coming down the stairs, switching to just quietly playing the banjo.

"Uncle Sammy! Let's do Mumford and Sons!" She shouted, causing Dean to pinch the tension spot at the bridge of his nose. Bailey must have been listening to Sam's play list instead of classic rock again. Sam smiled, played the tune that Bailey loved so much, because he loved when his niece sang and they had these little creative moments together. Dean only sang in the car when he forgot he had passengers, and Cas didn't sing at all in the past 10 years.

"_It's empty in the valley of your heart,  
The sun it rises slowly as you walk,  
Away from all the fears and all the faults you left behind"_

The little girl started to sing to her uncle, swaying about like a tree in the wind as the words came up from her throat. Bailey always swayed when she listened to slow music and thrashed violently with fast music, as if the sounds stimulated her nerves. She jumped around to Sam's more techno music and intricately waved her hands and arms to rap. One time, Cas put a marker selection into her hands and stood her in front of the blank wall of her bedroom and let her listen to Sam's iPod when she was feeling cranky one day. The little mural she drew on her wall was beautiful, almost appearing to be the song's wavelengths painted out for eyes to read.

"_I have seen the same,  
I know the shame in your defeat.  
But I will hold on hope,  
And I won't let you choke, on the noose around your neck.  
I'll find strength in pain and I will change my ways.  
I'll know my name when it's called again."_

Sam looked at Dean strangely for a moment, feeling a strange sensation throughout the room, feeling the high he'd felt from his medicine draining away and the pain in his foot completely gone, tingling with increased intensity, almost as if the limb was asleep. The sweet little voice continued softly, finishing up her song.

"_So come out of the cave walking on your hands,  
And see the world hanging upside down,  
You can understand dependence  
When you know the maker's land.  
So make your sirens call,  
And sing all you want.  
I will not hear what you have to say,  
Cause I need freedom now,  
And I need to know how,  
To live my life as its meant to be."_

"Holy shit." Sam whispered, pulling his foot toward himself pressing his thumb to where his toes once were, feeling no pain or swelling, just a normal chunk of skin without toes. The broken bones were restored and all.

So, the little half-angel could heal her best through song. Dean chuckled to himself at how chick-flick that sounded. He had the opposite of a siren for a daughter. His eyes met those of his life partner, who smiled at him, proud of their child and her new-found abilities.

Ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo

"Daddy?" Bailey asked at dinner one night.

"Yep?" Cas answered, twirling his fork in whatever the hell pasta it was that Dean threw together.

"My friend's parents just got married." She piped.

"Oh?" Cas said, showing interest.

"How come you guys aren't married?" Bailey asked.

"Hm, good question." Dean answered. "What do you think, Cas? Wanna get married?"

_Ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo_

**NOTE: What do you guys think? Should Dean and Cas become Mr. and Mr. Winchester? REVIEW.**

Ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo

_SONG CREDITS:_

Cherry Pie- Insane Clown Posse

The Cave- Mumford and Sons


	7. Chapter 7

"Are you proposing to me?" Cas asked, dropping his fork and staring straight at Dean as if nothing else existed.

"Yeah." Dean nodded, knowing how it sounded and wishing he had something more romantic up his sleeve.

"Oh lord, boy. Did I just walk in on a crappy attempt at a marriage proposal?" Bobby asked, standing in the doorway of the dining room.

"That's what it looks like, Bobby." Dean answered.

"You idjit. That was the worst proposal I've ever heard, even worse than the one on Riding in Cars with Boys, not that I've seen it. Cas, don't say yes to him. Tell the kid to go to Hell until he can come up with a better line." Bobby stammered out the end.

"It's okay. Dean, I've waited for you to ask me this for…as long as I can remember having known you. I love you so much, and I will take an admittedly shoddy proposal over no proposal at all." Cas replied. He knew Dean, more than he knew himself, and this was the most heart-felt proposal he would have ever gotten. He never expected Dean to drop to one knee like in the movies. Just having him ask made the former angel melt inside, and he knew without Dean having to turn into a bag of mush, Dean loved him truly.

"So, you want to?" Dean asked, embarrassed.

"Do you?" Cas wanted to make sure.

"I can't imagine marrying anybody else." Dean finished.

Cas stood up, approaching Dean's seat and sank down on his lap, wrapping his arms tight around the other man. Cas wasn't a big crier, in fact, Dean cried more often out of the two of them, but this was a moment if ever there were one to excuse crying. His eyes were welled to the brim and Castiel refused to blink, hugging Dean as tight as he could, whispering of his love to the other man, drawing a big smile from their daughter. Bailey was still little, but the grace that flowed though her was wise, so part of her understood the depth of the love her dads shared. Her grace was once Cas's grace, so the history was still deeply embedded into it. She'd grown up with them, and both of them being men didn't seem to matter to her.

"Dean, you complete me. My Dean." Cas whispered, kissing his now-fiance once before hugging him tightly again.

"My Cas." Dean answered back, smiling and returning their embrace.

"YAY!" Bailey cheered. "Pops, since today is a special day, can I have some ice cream?"

"You little sneak, sure you can." Dean answered, barely finishing his words before his little girl gobbled down her dinner and ran into the kitchen to get a popsicle, which she considered ice cream, from the freezer.

Ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo

Later that same night, after Bailey fell asleep in front of the tv and Undead Bobby covered her with a blanket, he sat at his restored old desk in the same room he spent so much of his life when he was still mortal. His collection of dusty books sat on their shelves as though they'd never been destroyed in a fire.

The soft sound of rock music coming from behind the probably-closed door to the room above his where Dean and Cas slept could only mean one thing. The steady clunking could have been mistaken for the bass of the Metallica tune, but Bobby knew better. Having coexisted with the couple for several years, it became common for music to mask the sounds of their lovemaking on almost a nightly basis, especially after Bailey was born. As grossed out as the old man was on the occasions when he literally walked in on the two in the act, he was happy for them, especially Dean who didn't show interest in anything for a prolonged period of time. He never expected that the two kids he took in as his own so many years ago would be able to change the world for hunters, capitalizing on the family business. Dean, Sam, and Cas were now the head of the snake that was monster hunting. They joined forces with a network of other hunters, and as such, they were able to have this family life that so few hunters could afford. Bobby knew it unnerved Dean at first, being a father, and then having Cas fully human. He was sure the liability of either of them being hurt would drive him mad. But Castiel was a tough son of a bitch for a human, and Bailey was engrained with angel mojo, giving her an incredible amount of untapped strength.

Bobby shook his head, occupying himself with another book. This house held so many memories, his perfect place where memories continued to be made. He watched Dean and Sam grow up in this house, watched Cas become human in this house, spent years of his life in one room helping hunters like himself with his vast knowledge. He lost Karen here, twice, and it was his last refuge in his mind at the end of his human life. Having his home restored from the pile of ash it was once reduced to was one of the conditions he insisted upon when he agreed to the deal proposed by one of Cas's people.

After humans came through time and time again, a few angels decided that their brother, Castiel, had been right in his choice to side with them over the corrupted angels. A group of them formulated a plan to bring Bobby, an information powerhouse, back from the dead to continue helping other hunters protect the human race they'd grown to like. As terms of his deal, Bobby could walk between the world of the living, and that of the spirit world, taking a solid, undead body on Earth and a celestial one in the kingdom of Heaven he'd inherited. He'd proven himself so valuable to the preservation of human life that the angels practically agreed to anything he asked for except for bringing Karen or any others back from the dead. He was the only one involved in the deal. But as surrounding terms, he insisted to be available to his family (the Winchesters) through their lives and after their deaths. As a member of the undead, though, Bobby was not permitted to leave his house save for one day every ten years. This was proposed by Gabriel, who watched Pirates of the Carribean too many times, and it seemed fair.

It was strange that so much suffering, not only from himself, but his family and friends, could lead to an arrangement to where the best of both worlds was present. Yes, there was still death and danger, but the Winchesters, Bobby, and their friends long since paid their dues. None of them could say they didn't lose something. The boys lost their parents and friends. They lost their childhood and were betrayed and split apart on so many occasions. They fought with each other, nearly destroyed one another, and went through Hell for each other. Cas lost his home and his practically-immortal state of being. He'd gone into Hell and pulled both Sam and Dean up from the pit, fought his brothers and took their lives. He bled for his friends, lost limbs, took down a Horseman, and went boom several times. Gabriel and Meg were outsiders to their own kind, both went through pain of death for the cause they knew was right. Almost every friend that stood for them died along the way, including Jimmy Novak who gave up his family and any semblance of a life to cart an angel around in a body that was doomed to be wrecked by monsters and taken throughout the ends of all our worlds.

Ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo

"DADDY!" Came a scream from down the hall in the middle of the night later that week.

Most parents would respond to their child's screams in a certain way. In the middle of the night, most would be certain that their child was having a nightmare, and though startled, they would make their way to the little one's room and calmly explain that there were no such things as monsters in the closet. The same could not be said for the fathers of Bailey Winchester.

Instead, the two men burst into the room, having scaled the hallway at breaking speed. When they arrived, instead of sitting down to quietly comfort their daughter, the two pointed salted shotguns around all corners of the room, makeshift flashlights taped around the barrels.

"Where is it?!" Dean yelled, a lifetime of hunting making his nerves edge up, waiting for something to jump out.

"I had a nightmare!" Bailey squealed.

"About what? A wraith? Ghoul? Anshuang? Poltergeist? Slender Man? Show yourself, monster!" Cas demanded, still scanning the room and waiting for a monster to emerge.

"Dad, it was a really big spider."

The two men sighed, lowering their weapons and sitting down at the end of their daughter's bed.

"How many times have I said to scream only when there's a monster?" Dean insisted.

"I know, Pops. But it was so scary!" The little girl whispered, as if the spider would hear her.

"What's so scary about a spider?" Cas asked his daughter, patting her hair.

"Well, I was at school, and my teacher went to open the door because the shape of the principal was outside the window in the door. When she opened it, though, the principal was dead and the spider squeezed into the room and started killing people. I was hiding under my teacher's desk and the janitor came in and tried to kill the spider with a broom, but the spider yelled and sucked the janitor's guts out and his eyes blew up!"

"That's pretty damn scary." Dean replied, wide eyed. "Thanks for that, kiddo. Now I won't need to sleep for the next year."

"What he means to say is, it was just a nightmare. You can go back to sleep now." Cas assured.

"But-" She started.

"We can stay with you until you go to sleep." Dean offered, not wanting to admit out loud that his daughter's dream scared him too. Not that he was scared of spiders or guts, but his little girl shouldn't be having such awful dreams. That bothered him deeply.

"Okay." Bailey nestled back down and her dads curled up on either side of her in her little kid bed, not hardly big enough for the three of them. The two grown men pretzeled their legs and wound their arms around themselves to keep still, not wanting to fall onto the floor.

Within a short time, both Cas and Bailey were sound asleep. Dean knew this because the two of them made identical little whimpering noises the second that sleep overtook them. It happened every single night. In a non-creepy way, he liked to watch the two most important people in his life as they slept. Dean himself was still wide awake and bothered by his baby's nightmare, but seeing that she was at peace with her dad brought him a sense of calm. They were precious, visible only by the moonlight that shone through the curtains. They made the same faces in their sleep, both looked like angels again.

Ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo

"I don't remember ever waking up this stiff in my life." Dean muttered, cracking his back and groaning as the 'pop' sounded across the living room.

Cas was paying very little attention to his other half and instead was skimming through what looked like a magazine.

"You checkin out some porno?" Dean asked, and the former angel looked up at him with an eyebrow raised.

"No, Dean." He replied before looking back down.

"Well, care to elaborate?"

"Um," Cas started, "It's a wedding magazine. But honestly, I'm not getting a lot out of it. Seems to be only from the bride's perspective, and our wedding would be sans one bride."

"You're getting into this already?" The older Winchester brother asked in an incredulous way. He almost sounded annoyed.

"I'm sorry. Was I supposed to wait for you?"

"Nah," Dean started, "I wouldn't know where to begin. I don't care what kind of wedding it is, just don't girl it up too bad."

"Duly noted." Castiel replied flatly, trying to mask his excitement at planning a special day of his human life all on his own.

"Hey, babe… I think I should work out." Dean said slyly.

"Oh?"

"Since my back hurts, maybe I should stretch it out with a little bit of this," Dean jerked his pelvis forward for effect, "…wanna go upstairs?"

"Aren't you forgetting something?" Cas looked up again, putting his magazine down and standing up to talk to Dean.

"Nope."

"There's an eclipse this afternoon, Dean."

"Dammit, not that again. But you're human now, it shouldn't have any effect on you anymore."

"I know. It seems very close to physically impossible, but that's what I thought the first time as well. I just don't want to get pregnant again. Last time I was an angel and it almost ended my life."

"No, babe, you're totally right. I wouldn't ever do anything to put you in danger like that again. So, how about we use a condom?" Dean suggested, thinking he'd come up with a million dollar idea.

"A what?"

"Condom."

"What?"

"Condom!"

"…"

"A friggin' CONDOM, Cas!"

"Stop yelling 'condom' in there!" Bobby called from the other room.

"I heard what you said, I don't know what that is." Cas clarified, promptly sending his other half into a wild fit of laughter.

"Why are you laughing?" Cas wondered aloud. "What is this condom thing you suggest? How does it help? Why is it funny that I don't know what it is?"

"I have an idea. Maybe you should ask Sam." Dean offered, trying to appear as serious as possible to convince his angel that this was a good plan.

Ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo

"Sam, what's a condom?" Castiel asked later that afternoon when the two of them had some alone time at work, on a case with Dean. The older Winchester was out of earshot and out of sight, speaking to a woman that reported a large dog on the side of the road.

"What?" Sam asked.

"What's a condom?"

Sam paused for a moment, shaking his head. "What?"

"Sam, spare me. Please tell me what a condom is. Dean said you'd know."

"Cas, you've been sexually active for almost a decade. You've lived as a human for all this time and you don't know what a condom is? Didn't Dean ever use one with you?" Sam sounded bewildered and slightly offended.

"I don't know, because I don't know what that is. He may or may not have. He suggested that we use one because there's an eclipse later today. I mentioned not wanting to take the chance of becoming pregnant again. Is that bad?" Cas tried to explain, feeling like a fool. Apparently this was a completely common bit of knowledge amongst humans, which he'd fully been for five years.

Sam exhaled deeply, "Okay. Sam Explains Safe Sex to a Former Angel 101."

"Safe? You mean I could have been seriously injured this entire time?! Save for the sore backside that Dean says goes with the territory?" Cas demanded, suddenly very concerned for not only his well-being, but Dean's as well.

"No. Well, yes. Dude just let me explain. I'm the instructor…guy and you're the learner…guy." Sam stuttered.

"Hm, kinky." Cas replied, not meaning to have said it.

Sam blinked a couple of times, appearing surprised, but then shook it off and started his speech. "A condom is best described as…a latex sperm-catching _sleeve_ if you will. A guy puts it on his wang during intercourse to prevent pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases and infections."

"Oh."

"I can't believe you didn't know, man. Dean never used one?"

"No, it was always the…biblical way." Cas trailed off, knowing that didn't make sense.

"Weren't you worried?"

"About what?"

"Catching something. I mean, before you, Dean got around, a whole hell of a lot. It's a miracle you didn't contract something." Sam explained.

"I did."

"Did what?"

"Sam, stick with me. I contracted an infection once. From Dean."

"WHAT?!" Sam hissed, trying not to shout.

"Shh! I was still an angel at the time, so it didn't do quite as much damage as it could have. Remember when we took Eve down? Remember when my abilities were shunted and I was human for a spell?"

Sam nodded, unable to speak.

"Well, this was not soon after your soul was returned to you and you had that seizure. Lisa broke off her relationship with Dean before that. He was going through a hard time, but we'd only…had sex…that night you had your seizure. Dean was drunk, and the next day it was almost like the rest of the year, empty. He acted like it didn't happen. It was the first time we did anything after his breakup, and weeks after was the first time I had symptoms, in the town with Eve."

"Did you figure out what you had? Do you still have it?" Sam was wide-eyed, needing to hear more but not really wanting to.

"Sam, this is really humiliating."

"Dude, come on. You told me this much. I won't repeat it to a soul." Sam swore.

"I trust you. Don't laugh." Cas warned.

"This is not even close to funny. I'm worried."

"Don't be. It was gonorrhea, and no, I don't still have it." Cas replied, "I was, um…infected in my throat and entire genital region including…inside. Everything itched and burned, and though it's rare, I had skin legions. Dean said he had no symptoms at all and got rather angry at me."

"He got angry at you for a disease he infected you with?"

"My thoughts exactly. But he was going through a hard time in his life. Before fully breaking up, he was out hunting with you and Lisa suggested a long-distance relationship. I guess it really bothered him to be faced with proof that she'd been with somebody else. I asked him to seek treatment, and luckily gonorrhea has a cure, because he's now disease free, as am I." Cas replied, smirking out the happy ending.

"Dude, I need a minute. I can't really…process what I'm hearing."


End file.
